The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on Wednesday, April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by anti-government extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing happened at 9:02 am and killed at least 168 people, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed more than one-third of the building, which had to be demolished. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies engaged in extensive rescue efforts in the wake of the bombing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations. The Oklahoma City bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another person later died of a heart attack. It was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Rudolph. Security guard Richard Jewell discovered the bomb before detonation and began clearing spectators out of the park.
Terry Lynn Nichols is an American domestic terrorist who was convicted of being an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman and ranch hand. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the U.S. Army, which ended in 1989 when he requested a hardship discharge after less than one year of service. In 1994 and 1995, he conspired with McVeigh in the planning and preparation of the truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995. The bombing claimed the lives of 168 people.
Polly Hannah Klaas is an American murder victim whose case garnered national media attention. On October 1, 1993, at the age of twelve, she was kidnapped at knife point during a slumber party at her mother's home in Petaluma, California, and was later strangled. Richard Allen Davis was convicted of her murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.
The Aryan Republican Army (ARA), also dubbed "The Midwest Bank bandits" by the FBI and law-enforcement, were a white nationalist terrorist organization who robbed a series of 22 banks in the Midwest from 1994 to 1996 spearheaded by frontman Peter Kevin Langan. The gang who had links to Neo-Nazism and white supremacism, were alleged to have conspired with convicted terrorist Timothy McVeigh in the months before the Oklahoma City bombing terrorist attack. Although never legally acknowledged, many theorists believe the ARA funneled robbery money to help fund the bombing as a direct response to the Waco and Ruby Ridge sieges.
Kate Barker, better known as Ma Barker and sometimes known as Arizona Barker and Arrie Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker-Karpis gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwest gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
The Osage Indian murders were a series of murders of Osage Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma, during the 1910s–1930s; newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders as the Reign of Terror, lasting from 1921 to 1926. Some sixty or more wealthy, full-blood Osage Native Americans were reported killed from 1918 to 1931. However, newer investigations indicate that other suspicious deaths during this time could have been misreported or covered up murders, including people who were heirs to future fortunes.
Airtel is an outdated data communication process used internally within the FBI in addition to Teletype and facsimile. It indicates a letter that must be typed and mailed on the same day.
Richard Allensworth Jewell was an American security guard and law enforcement officer who alerted police during the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. For months afterwards he was suspected of planting the bomb, leading to adverse publicity that "came to symbolize the excesses of law enforcement and the news media."
Arlington Road is a 1999 neo-noir thriller film directed by Mark Pellington and starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film was heavily inspired by the paranoid culture of the 1990s concerning the right-wing militia movement, Ruby Ridge, the Waco siege and Oklahoma City Bombing.
The FBI Files is an American television docudrama series that originally ran from 1998 to 2006 on the Discovery Channel and produced by New Dominion Pictures. The show was cancelled in 2006. However, Court TV Mystery, Discovery and its sister network, Investigation Discovery, aired re-runs until October 2012. Investigation Discovery only showed episodes from seasons 5,6, and 7. As of October 2012, the network now airs episodes from the earlier seasons, with updated information about the cases at the end of most episodes. Up to late September 2012, WE tv showed episodes from seasons 1-4, but the network had removed the episode introductions by Jim Kallstrom. In the UK on Quest Red, The FBI Files airs every weeknight. It has also been shown on TV Denmark, Discovery Australia and Netflix in Canada.
Law enforcement is an integral part of the HBO drama series The Wire. The show has numerous characters in this field and their roles range from those enforcing the law at street level up to those setting laws citywide. The Baltimore City Police Department has been explored in detail from street level characters to the upper echelons of command. The show has also examined those setting laws in city politics and touched upon the FBI, the correctional system and the family of police officers.
Rhonda Pearlman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Deirdre Lovejoy. Pearlman has been the legal system liaison for all of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' investigations on the show. Later in the series, she begins a relationship with Cedric Daniels.
Kenneth Michael Trentadue was an American citizen who was found hanged in his cell at Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City during the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. His death was officially ruled a suicide three years after it occurred. Trentadue's family maintains that he was murdered by members of the FBI who mistakenly believed he was involved in the Oklahoma bombing and that officials at the prison engaged in a cover-up. Oklahoma City's chief medical examiner said it was "very likely he was murdered". Convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh stated that he believed Trentadue was mistaken for Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., a suspected co-conspirator in the bombing who also died in federal custody, allegedly from suicide by hanging.
A variety of alternative theories have been proposed regarding the Oklahoma City bombing. These theories reject all, or part of, the official government report. Some of these theories focus on the possibility of additional co-conspirators that were never indicted or additional explosives planted inside the Murrah Federal building. Other theories allege that government employees and officials, including US President Bill Clinton, knew of the impending bombing and intentionally failed to act on that knowledge. Government investigations have been opened at various times to look into the theories.
The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing is a book by journalist Jayna Davis about evidence of an alleged conspiracy behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Justice Department initially sought, but then abandoned its search for, a Middle East suspect. The book was published in April 2004 by Nelson Current Publishers, and became a New York Times best-seller. In contrast to conspiracy theories that the bombing was a false flag attack perpetrated by elements of the US government, the book presents a theory that links the Oklahoma City bombers to agents of Iraq and Al-Qaeda, operating under Iranian state sponsorship.
Blindspot is an American crime drama television series, created by Martin Gero and starring Sullivan Stapleton and Jaimie Alexander. Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson, Ukweli Roach and Marianne Jean-Baptiste co-star. Archie Panjabi, Luke Mitchell, Michelle Hurd, Ennis Esmer and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio joined the main cast in later seasons. The Warner Bros. Television-produced series premiered September 21, 2015, on NBC. On May 10, 2019, NBC renewed the series for a fifth and final season, which aired from May 7 to July 23, 2020.
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The 1,336 lb (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to send the North Tower crashing into the South Tower, bringing both towers down and killing tens of thousands of people. It failed to do so, but killed six people, including a pregnant woman, and injured over one thousand. About 50,000 people were evacuated from the buildings that day.
Carol Elizabeth Howe is a former informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Howe became a key figure in Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy theories following her claim that she informed authorities of a right-wing extremist plan to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma a few months before the Oklahoma City bombing.
The April 2014 Chicago crossover event is a two-part fictional crossover that exists within the Chicago (franchise). The event aired on NBC in two one-hour timeslots on consecutive weeknights. It began with "A Dark Day" of Chicago Fire on April 29, 2014, and concluded with "8:30 PM" of Chicago P.D. on April 30, 2014. Both episodes followed a unified storyline of a bombing at Chicago Medical Center and the search and rescue of survivors as well as the investigation of those responsible. Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead wrote the story for both parts while Michael Brandt and Derek Haas wrote the teleplay. The story was inspired by the Oklahoma City Bombing and Boston Marathon Bombings. The first part of the crossover event received mostly mixed reviews while the second part received more positive reviews.
