For the past two years, Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key, former grand juror Hoppy Heidelberg, Glenn and Cathy Wilburn, and a great many other Oklahomans have called attention to the many credible eyewitnesses who say they saw Timothy McVeigh with a man answering the description of John Doe No. 2, or with other men, on the morning of the Oklahoma City bombing. Also important are the many witnesses who connect McVeigh and the Ryder truck with other John Does in Kansas. The New York Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Denver Post, NBC’s Dateline, Hard Copy, and other “mainstream” media have also been convinced that many of these witnesses have important information about those responsible for the bombing. However, federal prosecutors have pointedly excluded from their list of trial witnesses any of those who have attested to seeing anyone besides McVeigh. We have listed below a number of key witnesses, maintaining the anonymity of those who have not agreed to be publicly identified. All have been interviewed by the FBI.
• A Tulsa bank executive driving through downtown Oklahoma City about four blocks from the Murrah Building at 8:30 (half an hour before the blast) reported pulling up beside a yellow Ryder truck and a vehicle matching the description of Timothy Mcveigh’s Mercury Marquis. Guessing from their hesitant actions that the out-of-state travelers were in need of directions, the Good Samaritan was about to offer help when the driver of the Marquis, whom he identified as McVeigh, gave him “a very stern, steel-cold stare” that “fixed the features in my mind of his face.” Two passengers accompanied McVeigh in the Marquis.
• Dave Snider, who manages a warehouse near where the banker saw the suspect vehicles, saw a Ryder truck approaching his loading docks at 8:35. He says he mistook it for an overdue delivery truck he was anxiously awaiting, so paid close attention when it passed slowly by him. He says he is positive McVeigh was on the passenger side nearest him.
• Mike Moroz, an employee at Johnny’s Tire (five blocks from the Murrah Building) says a Ryder truck driven by McVeigh pulled into his shop’s parking area at about 8:40. McVeigh got out and asked directions to 5th and Harvey (the northwest corner of the Murrah Building). He got back in the truck cab and conversed with his passenger before leaving in the direction of the Murrah Building.
• The manager of a cafe/convenience store one block from the Murrah Building says that Timothy McVeigh came in and purchased two sodas and a pack of cigarettes 15 to 20 minutes before the explosion and returned to a Ryder truck that was parked outside the front of his establishment.
• A witness sitting in his vehicle in the post office parking lot across from the northwest corner of the Murrah Building saw a Ryder truck pull up across the street from him, followed by an older, dirty car matching the description of the Marquis. It is about 8:50. The drivers of both vehicles got out and talked. Returning from the post office five minutes later, the witness noticed the vehicles had moved and the Ryder truck was now parked in front of the Murrah Building. A man resembling McVeigh was walking away from the truck to a parking lot across the street.
• A witness who works at the Journal Record Building across the street from the Murrah Building was standing in the alley just before 9:00 a.m. when, he says, the Mercury, driven by McVeigh, sped toward him, forcing him to jump out of the way. He saw a passenger in the vehicle but did not get a good look at him.
• A witness standing inside the Murrah Building was looking out the window at a Ryder truck parked beside the curb just a few feet from her. It was about 9:00 a.m. She saw a stocky man resembling John Doe No. 2 exit the passenger side of the truck and walk away up the sidewalk toward the east. Seconds later the truck exploded, killing her mother and two young children who were standing with her. Miraculously she survived, though she lost her leg and suffered many other serious injuries.
Some of the witnesses who link McVeigh to other suspects before April 19th include:
• Jeff Davis, a Chinese restaurant employee in Junction City, Kansas who delivered moo goo gai pan and egg rolls to McVeigh’s motel room, but was greeted not by McVeigh, but by a man with shoulder-length hair.
• Barbara Whittenberg, the owner of a Herington, Kansas diner just two blocks from Terry Nichols’ home, spoke with Nichols, McVeigh, and a man resembling John Doe No. 2 in her cafe early Saturday morning.
• Debbie Nakanashi, an employee at the Post Office branch across the street from the Murrah Building, says that on the morning of the 17th or 18th, McVeigh and John Doe No. 2 stopped in and asked where they might find federal job applications. Mrs. Nakanashi provided the description for the now well-known profile sketch of John Doe No. 2 in the baseball cap.