Murder In America - EP. 28 OKLAHOMA - THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING: 168 Victims, 1 Bomb

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

On April 19th, 1995, a bomb was detonated in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that ended the lives of 168 men, women and children. And the man who planted this bomb was NOT who America expected. He was an Army veteran. A man with no prior record. But a man FILLED with hate. This story involves Waco, Texas, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, Ruby Ridge and Randy Weaver, and a lot of anger. Get ready, to dive deep on this one. Once you hear the full story of this crime, you will NOT be able to forget it. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. Get your MANLY BAND today!! I love mine (I'm wearing it as I type this!!): MANLYBANDS.COM/MIA Listen to the podcast on VODACAST!: http://feed.vodacast.com/56092137/Murder%20In%20America/28:%20EP.%2028%20-%20OKLAHOMA%20-%20168%20Victims,%201%20Bomb:%20The%20Horrible%20Story%20of%20Timothy%20McVeigh%20&%20The%20Oklahoma%20City%20Bombing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. All right, let's go ahead and get this morning started. How's everyone doing this morning? Okay, so the banking department needs their audit by tomorrow. So who here can send me? Lawrence Rogers, the head of the Federal Employees Credit Union, opens her eyes and realizes that she's lying on the floor behind her desk.

There's paper flying through the air, glass shattering all around her, and office materials scattered everywhere. As she stands up to check on her colleague, she notices that she's the only person in the room. Where is everyone? Hello, where are you guys? Florence calls out for her colleagues, but she is met with a deafening silence. She looks around the office and notices that was once a solid wall is now a huge hole with the bright sun shining through. Below her, where her colleagues once sat is a deep pit of debris that is stretched all the way down to the ground floor of the building. And for a moment, just a brief moment before the rush of police sirens, firefighters and ambulances, in eerie silence,

fills the air. And it was, it had to be longer, but it was just like seconds. And all the girls that was in the office with me and disappeared. And I thought they had ran out and left me alone. And I started hard. Where are you guys? Where are you guys? And then I, realization sat in somewhat.

And I realized that, I don't know where they are. They're gone. And eventually I found out that there was, when the bomb went up and everything started coming down, the seven floors up above us had took them down into what was eventually known as the pit. I found out later that there was only like 18 inches of the exterior wall that did not break away, kind of helped me there, but my desk was sitting just at an angle, right ready to topple over into this hole that the bomb had made where all my employees had planned it.

Eighteen people were in the room that morning with Florence Rogers, and she was the sole survivor. Her colleagues, some of whom she had worked with for decades, were all dead in the blink of an eye. There are countless stories similar to this one. Stories of people who walked into work that morning thinking it was an average day, but it wasn't an average day. April 19, 1995 would be the very day that would change their lives forever, because at 9.03 a.m., a bomb would detonate in front of the federal building, and 168 people would lose their lives, all at the hands of a man named Timothy McVeigh. This is the story of the Oklahoma City bombing, and you're listening to murder in America. April 19, 1995 at 903 a.m., a bomb detonates in front of the Alfred P. Murrah

Federal Building, obliterating its entire north wall. Clouds of smoke and debris fill the surrounding areas, and downtown Oklahoma City erupts in chaos. As first responders arrive on scene, they're in disbelief at the huge gaping hole on the north side of the building. And everyone was wondering, what had happened? Was it a gas explosion? A freak accident? No one had any idea. No one except for Timothy McVeigh. But before we get into the details of the Oklahoma City bombing, it's important that we mention two events that happened years earlier, events that served as a catalyst to this horrible catastrophe. The first event is called Ruby Rich, and it would happen years earlier in the state of Idaho. You see, in the 1980s, many white supremacist groups were gathering

in northern Idaho, and among these groups was the Aryan nation. Their members were angry with the United States, and they felt like the federal government was being run by Jews, and their main goal was to put that power back in the hands of the white race. At the time, America was becoming a lot more diverse and white supremacist leaders were creating this narrative that if change doesn't happen America's white race would be destroyed so they set up a compound in Hayden Lake Idaho they decorated it with swastikas and they started on their mission to make America predominantly white and Christian members within this group were starting to cause a lot of trouble throughout the United States and the FBI was keeping a close eye on them in 1984

man named Randy Weaver moved his family from Iowa to an area called Ruby Rich, about an hour's drive from the Aryan Nation's compound in Idaho. Randy was very religious and he wanted his family to live a lifestyle that represented their Christian values, so they built a cabin on top of a mountain. It was very secluded and had no running water, plumbing, or electricity. Soon after moving, he and his family started to affiliate with the Aryan Nation, and the more time he spent with these hate groups, the more he fed into their beliefs. Randy started to regularly attend their meetings, and at one of these meetings, he started up a conversation with an undercover federal informant. During this conversation, Randy shares with the informant that he and his family

are struggling financially. So the informant asks Randy if he'd be interested in making some money by sawing off the end of shotguns, to which Randy agrees. And if you don't know, sawing off the end of shotguns is illegal in the United States. So the FBI arrests Randy on firearm charges, hoping they could get him to snitch on other members of the Aryan nation. But Randy hates the government and refuses to be an informant for them. Randy's trial date was set for the firearm charges, but when the day comes, he fails to appear in court, meaning his case would be assigned to the U.S. Marshal Service,

and it was now their job to find and apprehend Randy Weaver, so they set up surveillance around the Weaver's cabin. During the surveillance, they see Randy and a friend of his named Kevin Harris holding firearms on several occasions, and they see this as a threat. So on August 21st, 1992, the U.S. Marshal Service gets a team of six, and they send three of the members up the mountain and the other three close to the cabin. As the three members of the U.S. Marshal Service get closer to the house, Randy Weaver's dog spots them and runs after them.

And the next part of the story is kind of unknown. No one really knows exactly what happened next, but a shootout occurs. Some say the U.S. Marshals team shot first, and others say it was from the Weaver family. But we really don't know. What we do know is that at the end of the shootout, Randy's dog is dead, his 14-year-old son Sammy Weaver is dead from a shot in the back, and Federal Marshal William Deegan is dead. After Sammy was shot, Randy carries his body into the family's shed,

and the war between the Weavers and the FBI has started. The feds send out 10 different teams to surround the property, and they give specific orders that if they see anyone with a firearm, they are to immediately shoot and kill them. At some point, Randy and his daughter, Sarah, along with their friend Kevin, go outside to check on Sammy's body. They all walk outside firearms in hand and make their way back to the shed. When all of a sudden, Randy is shot in the shoulder. The three run back inside of the house, and another shot is fired. This time going through the front door, striking Randy's wife, Vicky Weaver, in the face, killing her instantly. Here's the account of Sarah Weaver, the oldest daughter.

That morning, we all were just trying to grasp what had happened the night before. And at some point, Dad said, I'm going to go see Sam one last time. His body was in the shed. And before I knew it, Dad and Kevin had headed out. So I went after them. And that's when I heard a gunshot. I ran over to where dad was. And he was holding himself and I said, dad, what happened?

And he said, I've been shot. My mom came out on the front porch and was holding the door open and she was like, what happened? And dad's like, I've been shot. And she started screaming, get in the house, getting the house, getting the house. So we get to the front porch and I'm pushing dad through the door.

And mom is right next to me, holding baby Alicia and screaming, get in the house, get in the house. At this point, Kevin was coming in behind us. and I hear this giant just boom. And I felt things hit my face, and mom dropped next to me. It took me a second to comprehend that mom had just died, and that it was parts of her that had hit my face.

That's when dad, he went and picked up Alicia and handed her to Rachel and pulled mom in the house so we could close the door, because at that point, we were being hunted. That's how it felt. The standoff would last 11 days before Randy Weaver would eventually surrender. This event caused an uproar in the United States, especially within the far-right groups. They were angry that an innocent mother and child were murdered at the hands of the government,

and that a failure to appear in court shouldn't have to end in bloodshed. At the bottom of the mountain where the Weavers lived, crowds of hundreds would gather, reprimanding the federal agents in the response to the incident. and the hatred between far-right groups and the government was growing stronger and stronger. Guys, for the better part of their lives, our better halves have been fantasizing about the perfect wedding ring. Cut, clarity, carrot, color, you name it. For us, not so much. And jewelry clerks clearly think the same thing.

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would occur less than a year later in Waco, Texas. The event in question involved the Branch Davidians, a religious group founded in 1955. The group settled on a 77-acre property east of Waco, Texas, in a compound they called New Mount Carmel, and they have their own little community within this compound, where they would come together to worship and learn about God. In the late 1980s, a member of this congregation named Vernon Howell claimed that he was their next God-chosen leader, and people believed him.

He was a young, charismatic, and natural leader within his community, and he would go on to change his name to David Koresh, the name that most of us are familiar with. David Koresh focused a lot of his preachings on the book of Revelation, which is mostly about the second coming of Christ in the Armageddon, the battle between good and evil before Judgment Day. He was the doomsday preacher that instilled fear into his followers, but this fear is exactly why people were attracted to him. He made them think that if they followed him and his teachings that they would be saved. Another huge part of Quresh's preachings was that before the second coming of Christ, an evil force would try and take down the branched Divideans.

And this evil force was the United States government. At this point, David Koresh had around 130 followers, people that were manipulated into trusting him and his preachings. And he convinced everyone, men, women, children, that the government was coming for them and that they needed to prepare for when that day would come. So they started ordering guns. Lots of guns. In May of 1992, a UPS driver was on his way to New Mount Carmel to deliver some packages to the compound. He starts to take the packages out, and one of them slips out of his hands. When he bends down to pick it up, he notices that the box had opened, and inside were hand grenades.

The driver finds this very concerning. Why would a religious group need to stock up on grenades? So, just to be safe, he decides to call the Waco Police and let them know about the branched Davidian's strange package. The ATF got word about the branch Davidians purchases, and they too found it concerning. So they started an investigation. Within this investigation, they discovered that within one year, the group had purchased around $43,000 in firearms, and that they had been illegally converting automatic weapons.

They also found reports of people claiming to hear explosives going off on the property, and they had gotten word that David Koresh had been telling his people that the government was coming after them. So just like they did in the case with Randy Weaver, the FBI decided to intervene on the matter and raid the compound. One of the agents involved in the investigation ended up tipping off the local news station about the raid. And like any news reporter, they head out to New Mount Carmel the morning of so they could be the first one to break the story. And as the news reporter drives out to the property, he notices that he's the first one there. When all of a sudden, a tan Buick pulls up beside him. The man inside of the car rolls down his window and asks the reporter if he's lost.

To which the man replies, yeah, I'm looking for Mount Carmel. There's going to be a big raid there later today. The reporter at the time was completely unaware that the man inside of the car was one of the leaders of the Branch Davidians, and he had just tipped off the group to the raid. The man in the Buick rushes over to the compound and word spreads quickly that the moment has come. The government is about to take them down just like David Koresh had promised. The men of the group quickly gather their weapons and start to plan their positions while the women and children are sent to their rooms for protection.

Because of that reporter, the Branch Divideons had a 45-minute window to prepare for the raid. And sure enough, when the ATF agents pull up to the compound, they are immediately fired upon by machine guns. AK-47s, and 50 Calibers. This shootout would go on for two and a half hours, killing four ATF agents and five branched divisions. David Koresh had also been injured and agreed to cease fire. The news of this event shocked America.

No one had ever fought back against our government the way that the branched divisions did on that day, February 28, 1993. And the FBI knew that they were going to have to make some type of a deal so that they can minimize the casualties. So they asked the Branch Divideans if they can release some of the children. And thankfully, they agree. The group released their children in small groups one by one.

Until one day, David Koresh tells the agents that he won't release any more kids and that the remaining 25 children were his that he would keep in the compound. In addition to the 25 children, at least 70 armed adults remained inside. And the FBI wasn't making any progress, so they decided to propose another day.

deal. This time, they told Koresh that if he and his people surrendered, they would set up a broadcast, and he could share whatever message he wanted to the nation. Koresh takes the deal. The broadcast is set up, and he shares messages from the Bible for about an hour before saying this. My name is Dave Koresh. The process is the fifth deal, the sixth deal. The importance of this deal is that if you do not listen, you could end up making the words of faith have remained in all of your life. We made an agreement with the ATFA, that they would allow us to have national coverage to this state,

but I might give to the world a small mind-new, small my new, of the information that I have tried so hard to share with people, that if I would do this, that all the people had, There's the facility compound here, as you'll call it. Well, give ourselves over to the world, give ourselves out to you. So this is what I promised, and this is what we're going to keep. Now remember, Revelation chapter 13 tells very clearly what our ideology should be towards that base. And all the world of the waters after that beast, do they worship?

Remember before I said it, to you, God said it. They worship the dragon. And will Christ have anybody for worshiped the dragon and willingly? No, just like the one with the well. Well, you don't have no human worship Christ, hosier. But now in spirit and truth, let's come up to you in to where I come from. Let's believe in a God on the throne now. All churches.

Pates and see Lutherans, we're all brothers. But let's get into unity with one God, one truth, one lamb, one spirit, and let's receive a reward of righteousness. Thank you very much. Once the broadcast was over, the FBI felt a huge sense of relief knowing that this was all over. The Branch Divideans were finally going to surrender. But just as they celebrated, they receive a message from Koresh, saying that God told him not to surrender just yet.

After Koresh went back on his word, the FBI was angry, and they were getting tired of playing games. So they shut off all of the power to the compound, shine bright lights inside of their windows, and blare different pieces of audio throughout the building, including the sounds of dying animals, monk chants, phone alarms, and the song, These Boots Are Made for Walkin by Nancy Sinatra. They were trying to psychologically torment the Branch Davidians into surrendering, but it wasn't working.

In addition, the FBI was granted permission to bug the compound with microphones, so they can start listening in on their conversations. Weeks and weeks would pass, and the Branch Davidians were still in their compound refusing to surrender. and the FBI wasn't really sure what to do next. So they started introducing the idea of a more aggressive approach. One being, to drive army tanks through the compound and fill the buildings with tear gas. The FBI thought that this would surely get them to surrender.

And sure enough, as soon as they got the approval, on April 19, 1993, the FBI took their army tanks and drove holes into the walls of the compound. where they slowly started to fill it with tear gas. Now we're in Waco, Texas. This is the live scene where the FBI has been using some combat equipment in order to punch holes in the compound and introduce tear gas. Do you hear that Johnson said, as we see, one of the armored vehicles, tank light, is now moving back away from the...

building having made an assault on it. And we'll continue our live coverage of this and other news in just a moment. While this was happening, other members of the FBI were listening closely to the bugged microphones throughout the compound, waiting to see how the Branch Divideans would react to their attack. But they weren't able to hear what they were saying because of the loud army tanks. And unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to hear what they said until it was too late. Because when the FBI was dousing the building with gas, the Branch Devidians were pouring

fuel around the building. After the bugged microphones were sent off to be interpreted, this is what the Branch Tavidians were heard saying. A number of times early on, we had gotten court-authorized permission to insert microphones into that building. That morning, we couldn't hear anything live because there's too much noise, too much ambient noise. But once the tapes are scrubbed, someone clearly says, put on your masks.

Shortly after that, you distinctly hear orders to spread the fuel, inserting tear gas. They were spreading fuel. If you didn't catch that, they were saying, put on your masks. Did you pour it yet? David said pour it, right? We want some fuel. So as the FBI was leaking gas into the building, the Branch Davidians were pouring fuel to keep them away. And that's when the real chaos would start.

In the film Oklahoma City bombing, a member of the FBI, said, quote, had we heard that, spread the fuel, we would have pulled back, we would have pulled away, end quote. But they didn't pull away. And the tear gas would soon ignite starting a massive fire throughout the compound. As you can see on your screen, there is a great deal of smoke coming out of the building. Let's go to Mike Capps out. We can also see some flames there now. Mike, what can you tell us? What can you see? Bonnie, for the last 15 minutes, we've watched this M60 vehicle, this combat engineering vehicle, make large holes in the side of this building and pump tear gas in there.

And at times, as you well know, tear gas can be incendiary, and apparently this is what's happened. And it looks like now we have a very large-scale fire breaking out on what must be the south side, right near the front side of this building. Was there, did you see on the other sound around, right the under? I'm sorry, around the other side of this building, whether or not tear gas had been put in at that level? No, I didn't, but Bob Ricks indicated that in the news conference, Bonnie, that they'd put tear gas all over the building. What that means is anybody's guess. This is a roaring fire here.

And I don't know if there are any fire trucks, even, I haven't seen any fire trucks come up. I don't know if there are any fire trucks at the compound, even. So this fire is really burning out of control here. Well, we also have to remind viewers that water has been turned off. The water pump does not work at the facility. It has been disabled by the FBI about the second week of this rape. Now, and also remember, we've had 35 to 40 mile an hour winds, and this fire is racing out of control.

Black smoke would indicate some sort of, um, sort of, perhaps tar on the roof or oil, perhaps something burning there. As the FBI agents watched the flames grow bigger and bigger, they all expected the remaining branched Vivians to make their way out of the compound and surrender, but only a few would, one being a woman who jumped out of a burning second-story window. Her human instinct caused her to jump away from the fire, but as soon as she hit the ground, the reality of the situation started to hit her, and she ran back inside of the compound. Luckily, it was a lot of the Luckily, an FBI agent grabbed her and brought her to safety, but this woman was ready to give her life for the Branch Davidians.

Eight other adults would end up escaping the fire that day, but 76 people would die, including the 25 children in David Koresh himself. After 51 days, the Waco siege was over and a fiery blaze. In the Oklahoma City bombing film, an FBI member said, quote, The part that we played cannot be ignored. We provoked the circumstances, but David Koresh decided who was going to die. What happened was to serve his purpose, and that's the most devastating thing to me, is that I served his purpose to a terrible degree. Burned to the ground, many people sat and watched it burn, an utter disbelief that this was how it all ended.

No one expected this ending. Bill Buford, who was an ATF agent on the scene, said, quote, When I saw the fire, all I could think about was the children in there. You know, the parents made their own decisions, but those kids didn't make any decisions. I literally bawled when I saw it. It was Armageddon, just like he said it would be. End quote. Many people in America were outraged by what happened to the Branch Divideons on April 19, 1993.

Most everyone, even people in the FBI, admitted that they didn't have. handle the situation well. And many Americans were starting to ask questions. Why did all of those people have to die over guns? Why did the children have to die? Why did they have to burn alive at the hands of the government? Many people, especially people in far right groups, thought of the federal government as murderers. And hundreds of people from around the United States came to Waco to protest against the FBI's response to the branch Divinians. One of these protesters was 24-year-old Army veteran Timothy McVeigh, the man who would later be responsible for the the Oklahoma City bombing. Timothy came to Waco to sell anti-government and pro-gun bumper stickers,

and the Waco siege would go on to be one of Timothy McVeigh's biggest influences behind the Oklahoma City bombing. But before we get into that, it's important to know about Timothy's background and upbringing. So let's go back in time. He was born and raised in a suburban area outside of Buffalo, New York, called Pendleton. Many generations of his family had lived here, and it was a very special place to him. Throughout his childhood, him and his grandpa spent a lot of time around guns, studying guns, learning guns safety, and of course, shooting them. It was a huge part of his life, and he loved them.

Growing up, Timothy idolized superheroes and soldiers and admired that they too carried guns. And his family members had taught him at a young age that guns are a part of our rights as Americans. After he graduated from high school, he decided to join the army. Not only was it a respected occupation, but he would also get to use guns on a daily basis, which was very exciting for him. Timothy did well in the army. He served at Fort Riley, where he was the top gun in his Bradley fighting vehicle, and his peers respected him. He was good at his job. Timothy would later go on to Iraq and serve in the Gulf War, and he was excited to kill,

to see what it felt like. Once he was there, he was ordered to kill an Iraqi soldier with a sniper gun, So he takes aim and kills him. He watched the man's head explode, and this event caused a lot of inner turmoil within Timothy. He didn't feel happy about what he had done. It felt kind of pointless, and he started questioning why the American government even sent them out to Iraq in the first place. After this event, Timothy became disinterested in the army. He tried to stick it out for a while longer, but ultimately came back to the states to look for work.

He figured that with his army experience, he was. would be able to get a good job, but he was rejected time and time again. And he felt like a failure, like nothing in life satisfied him anymore. And he blamed the government for a lot of these issues. At the same time, he became obsessed with a book called The Turner Diaries about a character who hates the government and pushes a narrative that in order to see change, people have to take extreme measures. Right around this time, while he's already feeling this hatred towards the government, Ruby Ridge occurs in Idaho, and Timothy was outraged at what happened. He viewed the government as murderers.

He viewed them as an establishment that was willing to do anything to get what they wanted. And he felt like American rights were beginning to slip and fade away. Timothy longed to find individuals that shared this hatred for the government. So with nothing really going on for him in his life, he decides to take his old car and travel around the U.S. to different gun shows, where he would meet a lot of people that shared his ideologies. and you really felt a connection to a lot of the people he met there, including members of white supremacist groups. Interacting with these individuals caused Timothy's hatred to grow even stronger.

And then, not even a year later, the Waco siege occurs. Him and his friends are completely outraged about what is happening, so they make their way to Waco in support of the Branch Divideans. Not long after, the fire at Mount Carmel would kill everyone on the compound. Timothy would later talk about it in an interview saying this. I'm watching flames lick out windows and I'm watching tanks my own wall. For me, I felt... Waco started this war.

Hopefully the globe would end. Months after the Waco siege, Bill Clinton would announce the passing of the Brady bill, which requires waiting periods for gun purchases and background checks. And he also banned several assault weapons. Timothy McVeigh was, again, very upset at this bill. He, along with many other right-wing to measurements, thought it meant that the government was coming for their guns. And from this moment on, he started to plan his terrorist attack against the U.S. government.

Do you remember that book we mentioned earlier called The Turner Diaries, the one about government resistance and the extreme measures one needs to take for the government to take you seriously? Well, Timothy loved that book. And in it, it talks about making a truck bomb and taking down a government building. Timothy was very interested in this concept of a truck bomb, and he started to look up ways in which he could replicate the bomb in the Turner Diaries. Eventually, he came across certain articles that gave him exact instructions on how to build it. After discussing his plan with a few of his friends, they agreed to help him build the bomb.

These two friends were Terry and Michael. The three of them actually met in the army. They were all fans of the Turner Diaries, and they all shared a hatred for the government. Timothy, Michael, and Terry spend a lot of their time researching about this truck. truck bomb, and before long, they start purchasing the main ingredient, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, and they buy a lot of it. In addition, Terry and Timothy actually break into a storage shed that contained these tubes of Tovex blastrite, which is a water gel explosive. You see, the friends wanted this bomb to be big and cause a lot of damage, and the tubes of Tovex would help

make that blast more powerful. Timothy was definitely the ringleader of the group, and Terry Nichols was his right-hand man. Michael, he was still involved, but definitely not as much as Timothy and Terry. The three friends spent months gathering materials, including extra bags of fertilizer and three 55-gallon drums of nitromethane racing fuel. During this process of gathering the materials for the bomb, Timothy McVeigh actually decides to make another trip to Waco. He drives to what was left of Mount Carmel and takes a little bit of.

all in, almost as if he was fueling his motivation for the upcoming attack. After leaving Waco, Timothy, Terry, and Michael start looking into where they want to detonate the bomb. They went to numerous government buildings, trying to find the perfect one. They drive to government buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Dallas, Texas. But none of the buildings felt right. One building in particular did. The Murrah building in Oklahoma City. One of the reasons they chose this building, actually, was because some of the 18-year-year-old.

The APF agents involved with the branch Davidians had an office in that building, and to them, it seemed like the perfect choice. Timothy and Terry are excited about the upcoming terrorist attack. The building had a number of federal offices, including ATF, housing and urban development, general accounting offices, a military recruitment center, social security administration, and the drug enforcement agency. To Timothy and Terry, the building was a goldmine. of federal officials, the exact building that they want to take down. Michael, 40A, on the other hand,

was starting to get second thoughts about the entire operation. As Tim and Terry are planning everything and talking about all of the casualties, Michael starts to realize that a lot of innocent people are going to lose their lives. He shares these concerns with Timothy, but Timothy doesn't care. And he tells Michael, I want to pick a day that was symbolic, a day that would accurately represent the message he was trying to get across, so he decides to bomb the Murrah building on April 19, 1995, the two-year anniversary of the Waco siege that killed the branched Davidians. A few days before, Timothy rents a $300 getaway car, and he and Terry drives separately from Kansas to Oklahoma City to drop the car off. Timothy parks it near the Murrah building and places a note in the window

that reads, not abandoned, please do not tow. We'll move by April 23rd, needs battery and cable. After they dropped the car off, Timothy and Terry drive back to Kansas, where Timothy rents a big yellow rider truck. They now have everything they need for their attack. All they have to do is assemble the bomb. So on April 18th, the day before the attack, Timothy drives the big rider truck in all of the supplies to Guillory State Park, where he starts to make the bomb. Terry was supposed to help him assemble it. but he too started to get a little uneasy about the attack. And this made Timothy very angry,

to the point where he threatened to murder Terry and his family if he didn't help him. After three hours, the bomb was built, and Timothy was ready for the attack. Terry, however, decides not to join him. Instead, he wishes him good luck, they shake hands, and Timothy starts the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Oklahoma City. The closer and closer he gets, he begins to get a little nervous.

But this doesn't stop him. As he approaches the Murrah building, he pulls the truck over and lights two different fuses. Fuses that will ignite the bomb in just a few short minutes. Timothy then drives up to the Murrah building, parks the truck in the loading zone, and walks away very slowly, making sure to not draw any attention to himself. Then, when no one is looking, he starts to jog, distancing himself from the bomb that was about to kill 168 people. It's 9.03 a.m. and the entire north wall of the Alfred P. Building is gone. And its place is a mound of debris that is covering dozens and dozens of bodies.

In that split second, everyone's world was turned upside down by the largest domestic terrorist attack in United States history. One of its victims was Ruth Schwab. She was a mother of five who decided to get to work a little earlier that morning, arriving just before 9 a.m. She sat down at her desk and went to turn on her computer when all of a sudden she feels like she's tumbling down into a dark hole. The next thing she remembers is waking up on her office floor and hearing people cry and moan all around her. When she called out for help, a colleague tells her not to move. Little did she know she was standing just feet away from a nine story drop. Ruth would make it out of the building that day, but she did lose her right eye

in the blast. But not everyone had a story like Ruth Schwab. Another woman named Erin Allman, just 22 years old, lived near the Murrah Building. She was a single mom and had just celebrated her daughter Bailey's first birthday the day before. On that morning at around 7.30 a.m., Aaron drops Bailey off at the Murrah Building's daycare center on the second floor. And as she said goodbye to her baby, she had no idea that it would be the last time she would see her alive. because less than two hours later, the bomb would detonate. Aaron said that her co-workers told her about the bomb and asked her, Isn't your daughter in that building?

Aaron quickly made her way downtown, and all of her fears had come true. People were running around covered in blood from head to toe. Dust and debris filled the air, and it looked like a war zone. Aaron was instructed to wait at the nearby hospitals, and she would get word about Bailey's condition later. At the same time, a firefighter at the scene named Chris Feet, was handed an infant that was in critical condition. The infant that was found among the debris was Bailey Alman.

Chris noticed that Bailey's airway was filled with concrete, so he quickly cleared her throat. He also noticed that she had severe skull fractures, so he rushed her to a nearby ambulance. The ambulance was already full of people, and as the paramedic grabbed a blanket to wrap Bailey in, Chris looks down at her, and thinks to himself, quote,

somebody's world is getting ready to be turned upside down today." And as he was thinking this thought, an amateur photographer captured a picture of the moment between Chris and Bailey. This picture would go on to be one that many Americans think of when they think of this day. In the picture, the firefighter is cradling lifeless Bailey, who was covered in dust and blood. Aaron Allman eventually got word that Bailey did not survive the bombing. It wasn't until the next day when she walked by a newspaper, she would see her lifeless baby in the hands of a firefighter.

She would go on to say that her grieving process was very difficult. Not only did she lose her only child, but she was constantly reminded of it because of this picture. She said, every time I went to the store, it was on the front of magazines. I would go to the doctor's office, and there it was. On every television show, every news station, on the front of T-shirts, on coffee mugs. It was everywhere. and it was devastating. Bailey Oman would be among the 19 children that died in the daycare center that day.

And one of the first responders' biggest priorities as they arrived on scene was the search and rescue of the children. Dozens and dozens of people start to dig through the rubble doing everything in their power to find these little babies. And one by one, they pull them out. But almost every child in that room would not make it out alive. The daycare center was only 50 feet away from where the bomb was detonated. There was a table in the back of the room that sat five children, and there was one child in the bathroom.

And these would be the only six that would survive that day. As for the rest of the children pulled from the rubble, the first responders would lay them on the ground, place a white blanket over their bodies, and tie a tag around their feet. The makeshift morgue that they made outside was lined with the same. over a dozen deceased children. Many first responders from that day said that they think about those children every single day. In the group of six survivors, there was a one-year-old named Joseph Weber, who suffered two ruptured eardrums, a broken jaw, a broken left arm, a concussion, and several face and body lacerations. The second survivor was five-year-old Chris Wynne, who suffered a broken

jaw, ruptured eardrums, and brain trauma. The third was two-year-old P.J. Allen, who had third-degree burns all over half of his body and severe lung damage. The fourth was four-year-old Nica McLeod, who suffered a brain injury and side effects that still linger today. And the fifth and six survivors were actually siblings. A lot of families that day lost one or both of their children, but not for the Denny family. Three-year-old Brandon Denny and two-year-old Rebecca Denny would survive the bombing that day. Rebecca suffered a broken collarbone and many lacerations all over her body. Brandon, on the other hand, barely survived the blast. He suffered from severe head trauma and had to undergo four different brain surgeries.

As you can see, even the survivors suffered greatly from the blast, and most of them are still dealing with the side effects of their injuries today. Now, over two decades later, the surviving children, along with all of the survivors, recognized just how lucky they were on that day in 1995. One of the surviving children P.J. Allen said in a recent interview talking to his parents, quote, I guess I never really talked to you and dad about this. There's a lot of pressure to make both of you proud, but also for all of the parents who lost their own children. They won't ever get to have that sense of pride when they see their own children succeeding. And when I'm thinking about

what I'm doing with my life, I have to think about all of the children that were there that day and how I'm lucky to have survived. I wouldn't want to waste this opportunity that they don't have." The surviving children would be among the nearly 800 people who were injured in the blast. There are more horror stories that come out of the Oklahoma City bombing, and many people had no idea that the bombing was intentional. They assumed it was a freak accident, and no one had any idea that the perpetrator behind the carnage was in his getaway car, speeding away from Oklahoma City. About two hours after the explosion, Timothy McVeigh, thinking that he got away with his crimes, was pulled over for driving without a license plate. About 60 miles north of Oklahoma City in a small

town called Perry, Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charlie Hanger pulled over the 1977 Mercury and exited his vehicle to perform a traffic stop. After questioning the driver of the car, Officer Hanger discovered that he had no proof of insurance or bill of cell for the vehicle. The driver told Officer Hanger that he was in the middle of an extended multi-state journey and that he was moving to Arkansas and was on his way to gather more of his belongings. But as Officer Hanger looked throughout the car, he began to realize that there was no suitcase in the car. There wasn't even a change of clothes. As Officer Hanger looked at Timothy, he noticed a bulge in his jacket, so he reached over

and grabbed the hold of it. Chillingly, Timothy turned to the officer and stated, My gun is loaded. And Hanger replies, so is mine, before putting the gun to Timothy's head and arresting him for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. Officer Hanger had no idea that he had just arrested the Oklahoma City bomber. And if he hadn't noticed the bulge in Timothy's jacket that day, he most likely would have been let go with a ticket, free to escape the state that he had just irreversibly damaged. And with that, Timothy McVeigh was booked and placed in the county jail. And on the day of the bombing, Timothy had worn a specific shirt. On the front of the shirt was a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the words, Sikh Semper Tyrannus. These words translate to thus always to

tyrants. This was the phrase supposedly shouted out by John Wilkes Booth as he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. On the back of the shirt, there was printed a tree, three blood droplets, and a quote from Thomas Jefferson. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Due to a series of cancellations and reschedule's and hearings, Timothy was held in county jail for a few days. One of his hearings was delayed due to a messy divorce case, and the other was delayed because the judge's son had missed his school bus, and the judge that morning had been forced to turn around and drive his son to school himself. No one in town suspected

that Timothy had anything to do with the bombing in Oklahoma City. He should be able to. He seemed to be your average gun-loving American that happened to drift through town and get caught for a minor crime. And while he was sitting in a jail waiting for his hearing, the FBI was hard at work trying to figure out who committed the Oklahoma City bombing. As law enforcement studied the crime scene, they soon discovered that the bomb came from a truck, and this truck had a confidential identification number, PVA-20077. And soon enough, they had traced it back to a rider truck at Elliott's body shop in Junction City, Kansas. So the FBI was sent out to the body shop and their record stated that the truck was rented out to a man named Bob Kling. The employees at the shop were able to give

a description of the man and a composite sketch was soon plastered everywhere. The agents began going around Junction City asking everyone if they recognized the man in the sketch. One place they stopped was the Dreamland Motel. The agents walked inside and asked the manager if anyone had stayed there with a yellow rider truck. The woman thinks for a second and then recall. Yes, she did have a young man in a rider truck staying in room 25 of her motel. When she pulls out her records and flips through the pages, there it is. The driver of the rider truck was none other than Timothy McVey. Throughout all of Timothy's planning, the one thing that he didn't do was give the motel

worker a fake name. And because of that, the FBI now knew the name of the Oklahoma City bomber. Okay, guys, so let me ask you, have you ever wanted to see the pictures of the victims, the killers were talking about the murder weapons. Specifically in this episode, the truck that Timothy McVeigh drove to the Alfred P. Murrah building, the images of the building itself while you're listening to the episodes of the podcast. By the way, guys, thank you so much for listening to our podcast, Murder in America. But before you go any further, we have to stop for a second. I need you all to go and download the app Vodacast. You won't regret it. Vodicast is an

amazing new immersive podcast app that will allow you to experience this podcast. podcast and others in a way that you haven't been able to until now. Vodicast will provide you a deeper version of the show and allow you to view photos of the people in places that we're talking about in this episode and a couple of the episodes that we've already posted. You'll also get links for articles about the cases and additional bonus content pertaining to this week's story. The episode that you're listening to right now is actually available on Vodicast now.

So go download the app to see what it's all about. When you experience a podcast on Vodicast, you'll not only be listening to your favorite podcast, but you'll be getting stories that come alive with supplemental digital content that allows you to have everything being discussed in the episode of the tips of your fingers. I'm the type of person that needs to know every single detail about the case that I'm researching. Sometimes this additional research can take me hours. I waste time at night and bed. I stay up late. I can't get enough. But with Vodicast, all of that information is already right there for you. So, as we're recommending right now and we did before, we love this service. Try out Vodicast

today. Click the link in our show notes to learn more about Vodacast or download the app today in the app store and change the way you experience podcast forever. Now, back to our story. After figuring out his name, finding Timothy McVeigh was easy. The FBI soon discovered that he'd recently been arrested on an unrelated charge in Perry, Oklahoma. So they contacted the Perry Police Department, a phone call that would rock this small community forever. Officer Han, Hanger was at his home when he received a call from Highway Patrol dispatch, asking if inmate Timothy McVeigh was still being held in jail. The confused officer Hanger responded that, yes, he still was.

But that his hearing would be any minute now and he would soon be released. On orders from the FBI, he was told to make sure that Timothy McVeigh did not leave that jail under any circumstances, and that he was the lead suspect of the Oklahoma City bombing. Two federal agents would interview Timothy McVeigh, and they start their interrogation by asking him, do you know why we're here? And he responds. Does it have something to do with the bombing? And I am pleased to announce that one of the individuals believed to be responsible for Wednesday's terrible attack on the Murr of Federal Building in Oklahoma City has been arrested. Timothy McVeigh, age 27, who we previously called John Doe No. 1, the man with the light brown,

crew cut was arrested by local authorities on a traffic violation about 60 miles from Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning, about an hour and a half after the explosion occurred. Many people were shocked when they discovered the identity of the Oklahoma City bomber, not because they knew of Timothy McVeigh, but because they never expected him to be American himself. Everyone at the time assumed that whoever was responsible for this had to be a foreign terrorist. But as Timothy was being transferred to prison and everyone got to see his face for the first time, they realized that he was one of our own, an American, a domestic terrorist. Timothy McVeigh was indicted on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction,

use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction with the use of explosives, and eight counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of law enforcement officers. He was never tried for the other 160 deaths because his trial was moved from Oklahoma City to Denver, Colorado. Timothy McVeigh's trial began on April 24, 1997, and it was one of the biggest trials in United States history. Multiple times, some of the jurors broke down crying. This was the opening statement from prosecutor Joseph Hartzler. He started the trial by bringing the jury back to that fateful morning. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, April 19, 1995 was a beautiful day in Oklahoma City. At least it started out as a beautiful day. The sun was shining, flowers were

blooming. It was springtime in Oklahoma City. Sometime after 6 o'clock that morning, Tevin Garrett's mother woke him up to get him ready for the day. He was only 16 months old. He was a toddler. And as some of you know that have experience with toddlers, he had a keen eye for mischief. He would often pull on the cord of her curling iron in the morning, pull it off the countertop until it fell down, off until it fell down on him. That morning, She picked him up and wrestled with him on her bed before she got him dressed. She remembers this morning because that was the last morning of his life. During his trial, Timothy instructed his lawyers to use what's known as a necessity defense.

This means that whoever committed the crime needed to commit the crime because they were in imminent and immediate danger. Timothy claimed that the bombing of the building was necessary to protect the American people from a dangerous government. He wanted to use Waco and Ruby Ridge as examples of crimes that the U.S. government had committed that put the lives of all U.S. citizens in danger. Although his legal team didn't end up using a necessity defense, this just helps demonstrate the twisted mind that McVeigh possessed, a mind that justified mass murder. And also, even though they didn't use this strategy,

at one point Timothy's lawyers showed the jury a controversy video called Waco, the Big Lie. On June 2nd, 1997, Timothy was found guilty of all counts with which he was charged. As the jury read his guilty verdict, Timothy showed no emotion. After the verdict, Timothy attempted to calm down his mother by saying, Think of it this way. When I was in the Army, you didn't see me for years. Think of me that way now, like I'm away in the Army again, on an assignment for the military.

A few days later, the jury recommended that Timothy received the death penalty. And he did. He was sent to death row at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, one of the most secure and brutal prisons in the United States. And this place is like a living hell. Prisoners are confined to their cells there for 23 hours a day. In single cells made for only one inmate, cells constructed from poured, reinforced concrete to deter self-harm. Inmates there are also kept under 24-hour supervision, supervision that's carried out intensively by staff members.

This means that the inmates don't really get to talk to anybody. They don't have anything to do. There's no way to take their own lives. They're trapped, truly, in a living hell. Timothy, along with Terry Nichols, who was serving a life in prison, was housed in a unit of the prison referred to as Bombers Row. On the same cell block as Timothy and Terry sat Luis Felipe, an infamous and violent gang leader,

Ramsey Yusuf, a terrorist and one of the main, perpetrators behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of the Philippine Airlines Flight 434. And lastly, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. All of these monsters sat on bombers' row, and Timothy was now one of them. While on death row, Timothy agreed to do a number of interviews with journalists, and he said some pretty shocking statements. Here are a few of his quotes from these interviews. I'm sorry these people had to lose their lives, but that's the nature of the beast. It's understood going in what the human toll will be.

He also stated at one point that if there indeed turned out to be an afterlife, he would quote, improvise, adapt, and overcome. If there is a hell, then I'll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war, end quote. He also stated that, I knew I wanted this before it happened. I knew my objective was state-assisted suicide, and when it happens, it's in your face. You just did something you're trying to say should be illegal for medical personnel. And in a rare event, Timothy actually did a death row interview with journalists that was recorded and broadcasted on TV.

While we can't play the entire interview for you now, here are a few quotes from when he spoke to 60 Minutes journalist Ed Bradley, about a year before his schedule. Are you prepared for death? I am. It's, I came to terms with my mortality in the Gulf War. After that, it's not that hard to be, quote, prepared for death. But there's a little different experience being in a war, as opposed to being in prison on death row, knowing that there will be a lethal injection that will take your life.

In truth, from my psychological perspective, it's a little easy. it's a little easier being on death row because you know how you're going to die. You can narrow down where you're going to die and you can pretty much narrow down the time. Am I pure evil? Am I the face of terror sitting here in front of you? Or am I able to talk to you man to man?

Most people in this country think you are the face of evil, don't they? They do. But sitting down here now, and let me make clear, I'm not sitting here trying to influence you and I'm not putting on a game face. I'm not conning anybody. I'm just being me. And maybe people will listen.

Maybe one of the benefits of me talking to you today is that you'll see that maybe not everything is true that you've heard about me. Everyone in America saw the pictures on television heard the news on the radio. What was your reaction when you saw those pictures? I think, like everyone else, I thought it was a tragic event.

And the children? I thought it was terrible that there were children in the building. In your high school yearbook, you, under future plans you wrote, and I'm quoting here, take it as it comes, buy a Lamborghini, California girls. Right. Well, I'm dreaming. I'm putting down my dreams, you know. If I could rub a genie in a bottle, that's what I wish for, right?

Sitting there talking to him, there were times when I'd look at him and think that this is a and think that this is this is a guy who is not unlike millions of guys in this country you'd never you'd never look at and give him a second look and then there were times when i would look at him and i would be hit with the realization this guy is a cold-blooded killer real quickly everybody i just want to give a shout out to our wonderful patrons that are out there on the murder in america patreon we are going to be uploading a lot of different true crime content on there in the near future we We already have a bunch of bonus episodes that you guys can go listen to. So if you love the show, please consider becoming a patron.

Just type in Murder in America on Patreon to find that page. And if you like what we're doing, if you like this show, you love the podcast. Please take a screenshot of your screen right now and upload it to Twitter, to Instagram, to Facebook, to any social media and tag us. Every bit of promotion helps. So if you really are enjoying our show, help us out. It's free. And just give us a shout out on some of your social media. It helps so much.

Thank you to everybody that has really. done that for us and yeah we got some exciting episodes coming up soon glad you guys are enjoying this and let's get back to the show he eventually dropped his remaining appeals claiming that he wanted to die rather than spend the rest of his life in prison and this wish was granted when his execution day was set for May 16th 2001 for his last meal Timothy requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream Timothy also invited conductor David Woodard to perform Requiem Mass music on the night before his execution. The conductor ultimately accepted the offer after lots of consideration, stating that Timothy had committed a, quote, horrible deed, but that he would consent

in order to, quote, provide comfort. For his final statement, Timothy chose the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley, a poem that ironically inspired Nelson Mandela to persevere through hardship himself. A very different inspiration there. The poem goes like this. Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole. I think that whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbound. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade,

and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments, the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. Before his execution, Timothy expressed that his only regret was, quote, not completely destroying the federal building, end quote. And even though his execution was delayed a number of times, they eventually agreed that June 11, 2001 would be the set day that Timothy McVeigh would die. The area outside of the penitentiary where Timothy was being held before his execution became a circus of sorts in the days leading up to the execution. Some protesters were marching against the death penalty.

Other groups of individuals met up to pray, some for the victims of the bombing, and others for Timothy himself. Media tents and satellite trucks from news stations across the nation formed their own little city east of the penitentiary. A small commune that some members of the community nicknamed Camp McVeigh. One priest that visited the area was interviewed and said that he believed Timothy would be sent to heaven, claiming that the man didn't deserve to be demonized, whatever that means.

Another religious official claimed that Timothy was, quote, on his way to hell due to his unrepentance. On the night before he was sent to be executed, Timothy was allowed outside of the prison for the first time in years. According to one of his lawyers, a man named Robert Nye, Timothy gazed up at the moon. It was the first time he had seen the sky in a long time, and he wouldn't look away.

Robert, his lawyer, was later quoted as saying he was able to look up in the sky and see the moon directly, and that was valuable to him. June 11, 2001. With the execution scheduled for 7 a.m., Timothy is brought out of his cell wearing a shirt, khaki pants, and slip on shoes. He is then strapped to a gurney

and wheeled down to the death chambers of the prison. Survivors of the bombing, journalists, lawyers, and officials watched the execution as it happened from inside the death chamber, while another 232 survivors and victims' relatives watched from Oklahoma City via live satellite feed. When asked if he had any final words, Timothy declined. As he sat there, strapped to the gurney in the death chamber, the curtains were then lifted, allowing the viewers that attended that day to watch Timothy die. When these curtains opened, Timothy raised his head and attempted to make eye contact with all of the victims' families and survivors of the bombing that were there that day,

even nodding at a few of them. When his glance reached the section of government officials, Timothy gave them a cursory glance, almost as of sending a message that they didn't matter to him. officials then hooked Timothy up to an IV and pumped a lethal dose of various chemicals into his body. It took a few minutes for him to die. But the process was quick and quiet. The entire time that his body was shutting down, his lungs were collapsing and his heart was stopping. Early, Timothy stared directly into the camera that was broadcasting a feed to the survivors of the bombing in Oklahoma City. According to some who were there that day watching, this was the most chilling part of the entire

affair. It was almost as if Timothy was staring at them right through the screen, making his true final statement. But a short while later, Timothy McVeigh was declared dead. How many people in this lifetime get to leave this world pain free? There is pain associated with death, but once again, McVe takes the coward's way out and he gets to leave this world. He's going to be rolled in and fall asleep and drift off into eternity. Burrne's two grandchildren, Chase and Colton Smith, were killed in the bombing. The whole thing just makes me so mad. You know, we get the letters to show up for the execution.

It says that the execution would take place at 7 o'clock. If you want to attend, you're going to be there at 4.30 in the morning. It's like, once again, Tim McVeigh wins. He's the only one going to get to sleep late. Janie Coverdale also lost her two grandchildren, Aaron and Elijah Coverdale, who were playing in the daycare center inside the federal building. He'll be at peace. Are we going to be still?

He'll be living. I agree. I disagree with that. He'll be somewhere. He'll be somewhere. But we are going to be going through just as much hell as Timothy McVeigh for the rest of our lives. Timothy was the first federal prisoner to be executed in America in nearly four decades. A relative of one of the victims, a man named Jay Sawyer, wrote that quote,

without saying a word, he got the final word. End quote. Larry Richer, a man whose brother died in the attack, described Timothy as having, quote, a totally expressionless blank stare. He had a look of defiance and that if he could, he'd do it all over again. End quote.

But even after Timothy was executed, he didn't die. In fact, in a frightening development, it seems as though his spirit is alive and well in the marriage. Timothy McVeigh and his atrocious act, in fact, continued to haunt America to this day. How, you ask? Well, here are a few examples. In 2019, a man named Wesley David Gilreith was arrested for possessing child pornography. After FBI agents searched his home, they discovered that, in addition to being a pedophile, he was a closeted terrorist. He had religious centers and their distances from his home written out and hung on his walls. He had expressed a desire online to

hunt down and target minorities and members of certain religious groups. And he had tried to buy a gun right before his arrest, but was denied because of a background check. In his apartment, investigators found a T-shirt with Timothy McVeigh's photo on it, a full-sized Nazi flag, and a book titled American Terrorist, Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. He had also recently searched for Timothy McVeigh on YouTube. Then there's Adam Woffen, an extremist neo-Nazi group whose members wanted to create chaos and death in America, vowing to accelerate the collapse of civilization. When authorities raided the Tampa, Florida home of Adam Woff and founder Brandon Russell a few years ago, they found explosives and a framed picture of Timothy McVeigh sitting on his nightstand.

Then there was Richard Tobin of New Jersey, who, after joining a violent white supremacist extremist group, encouraged folks around the country to vandalize synagogues in the Midwest with Nazi iconography. After he was eventually found and arrested while being interviewed by FBI agents, Tobin talked about his love for suicide bombings, saying, quote, he believed it would be pretty straightforward to fill the back of a truck with barrels of explosives like Timothy McVeigh did, end quote. And after searching his computer after his arrest, agents also discovered a document detailing how to arrange barrels inside a rider truck to be used as a truck bomb, the same brand of rental truck Timothy McVeigh used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah building in 1995.

And these are just a few examples. Sadly, there are so, many more. It seems like Timothy's ghost is still with us, still haunting America in his own way. And the only way to finally send that ghost to hell is to grow beyond hate to come together and let the memory of Timothy McVeigh fade away into dust in the wind. Death penalty is, we call it an oxymoron. Death is not a penalty, it's an escape. The truth of truth will have been caught me and they're going to kill me when you're on. They didn't wait in the crudest time, 168 to 1.

Hey, everybody, Colin here. Thank you again for listening to another episode of Murder in America. We are so excited to be bringing you guys these extended episodes. This one was a very, very long case. There's so many elements to it. We wanted to cover all of these different inspirations behind this horrific event. We hope you guys enjoyed how we told this story and everything we pulled together for it. Courtney and I have been in New Orleans all week.

filming for my YouTube channel, The Paranormal Files. If you want to see the full documentary that we just produced about the Texas Killingfields, episode number two of Murder in America, go check out the Paranormal Files on YouTube. Courtney and I visited the Killingfields multiple times. We went out at night. We interviewed someone who had actually seen and found things on the property of Robert Abel's Stables.

And we're going to be back next week with an even more insane episode. And always, everybody, we're going to end you with the same old question to keep thinking about. The dead don't talk Or do they See on the next one everybody Thanks for listening