There are credible indications that a man arrested earlier this week in Quincy, Massachusetts is the infamous “John Doe No. 2” named in the investigation following the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Alert readers of the Patriot Ledger, a local newspaper, recognized that the man named in the arrest rundown had the same name as a man who figured prominently in the FBI investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing and a book on the subject written in 2004, Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Upon being apprised of the apparent coincidence, the author of the book, Jayna Davis, called the Quincy police department to ask about a very identifiable mark on the suspect Hussain al-Hussaini, who was once a central part of the bombing investigation.
Davis asked the police if the Hussain Al-Hussaini they arrested had a tattoo of an anchor with a snake wrapped around it. To their surprise, he did.
“His age, his name, the picture, the mug shot — that’s him,” Davis told the Patriot Ledger via telephone after speaking with police. Davis claims that the anchor-and-snake tattoo was common among members of a branch of the Iraqi army serving under Saddam Hussein.
An FBI spokesman in Boston, Greg Comcowich, said Thursday night that a man named Hussain Al-Hussaini was “thoroughly investigated” in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing and “was found to not have any role whatsoever in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.”
Comcowich said the Hussain Al-Hussaini the FBI investigated had been seen with bomber Timothy McVeigh before the April 19, 1995, bombing, which killed 168 people.
“The investigation was closed and the FBI has no further interest in that individual,” he said.
Comcowich said he could not confirm whether the Hussain Al-Hussaini arrested in Quincy was the same Hussain Al-Hussaini investigated after the Murrah Building bombing.
Despite figuring very prominently in early news reports filed immediately after the attack, Al-Hussaini was never questioned by the FBI and was never charged in connection with the bombing.
Timothy McVeigh was convicted of setting and detonating the bomb and was subsequently executed for that crime. McVeigh’s convicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols is spending his life in prison for his role in the planning and perpetration of the attack.
Curiously, the Al-Hussaini investigated as being involved in the bombing sued Ms. Davis, a former television reporter, and Oklahoma City TV station KFOR for a story that he was the suspect dubbed “John Doe 2” by investigators. Al-Hussaini’s lawyer at the time claimed he was so identified because he was an Arab.
Al-Hussaini claimed defamation, invasion of privacy, and emotional distress. The defendant's motion for summary judgment was granted by the trial court and the case was dismissed. At Al-Hussaini’s appeal, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision.
The Quincy Hussain Al-Hussaini is 45 years old and was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The police report alleges that he cut another homeless man’s face with a beer bottle.
Police Detective James Lencki identified Al-Hussaini and arrested him after his description was broadcast.
Al-Hussaini was arraigned in Quincy District Court and is currently being detained at the county jail on an outstanding probation matter, said a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
The Al-Hussaini arrested in Quincy has a criminal record. He was arrested in 2007 on a narcotics charge and in 2009 for open and gross lewdness, prosecution officials said.
Upon being questioned, Al-Hussaini told police he was from Iraq.
