Posted on 02/03/2004 11:12:11 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
OKLAHOMA CITY - The possibility that a video exists showing the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building led to a search of a home in Virginia, but the man whose residence was searched said no such video was found.
No such video has ever been seen publicly and it is not clear whether one exists. Depending on what was on such a video, it could conceivably be used as evidence in bombing conspirator Terry Nichols' trial on state murder charges, set to begin March 1.
The search of John Culbertson's home in Centreville, Va., took place Friday. The search was first reported by the McCurtain Daily Gazette.
Culbertson is a Washington-based consultant who once advised members of Congress on the Waco fire and Oklahoma City bombing investigations. He is a former aide to former Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat who was sent to prison for bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.
Culbertson said in a telephone interview Monday that authorities did not find the video they were seeking, but he declined to comment further until he finished meeting with an attorney. He didn't return subsequent telephone calls.
An affidavit in support of the search warrant was filed by Oklahoma City police inspector Mark Easley.
Easley has been assisting the Oklahoma County district attorney's office in its prosecution of Nichols, who faces 161 first-degree murder charges. Nichols already has been convicted of federal charges in the April 19, 1995, blast.
The affidavit said Nichols' attorneys had advised prosecutors that Culbertson might have a video of the explosion.
In the affidavit, Easley said Dallas attorney Thomas W. Mills Jr. saw the video on Culbertson's computer on Aug. 26, 1998. Culbertson allegedly told Mills the images came from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent. Mills said the video included images showing the building before the bombing, then with a "small glow" at its base, then with a "ball of fire rising from the building," according to the affidavit.
Easley said in the affidavit that he spoke to Culbertson by telephone before the search, and Culbertson said he showed such a video to Mills but that he had subsequently turned this material over to the House Judiciary Committee. Culbertson told Easley he couldn't say whether he still had a copy of the video.
Police in Virginia referred questions to the Oklahoma City Police Department, which declined to comment on the search. Prosecutors have consistently refused to comment on the case, citing a judge's gag order.
How would you prove you didn't have something?
Wonder how 'ole raccoon head is doing and is he still running for president from prison?
"June 9, 2001 | The main thing Joann Van Buren says she remembers about Timothy McVeigh is the $50 bill he wanted her to break. That, and the two men who accompanied him.One day before he tore a hole in the nation's psyche with the bomb that destroyed Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building, McVeigh, Van Buren says, pulled up to the little Subway sandwich shop where she worked in Junction City, Kansas, driving the yellow Ryder truck that would contain the bomb.
Van Buren didn't pay any particular attention to them at first. Another clerk waited on the men, but when they tried to pay for their meal with a large bill, she took notice.
"As soon as the $50 bill came up, I had to go to the safe to get the change," says Van Buren today. "And when I gave them the change and they got their sandwiches, I remember them going back over to the corner, sitting down. And when they left, I remember three people getting into the truck. There were three people at the table."
The clerks she worked with later told FBI agents that two of the men matched the descriptions of McVeigh and his cohort, Terry Nichols. The third was a shorter, dark-haired and muscular man with an olive complexion: a perfect fit for the figure destined to be known as John Doe 2.
Luckily, the Subway shop actually had a video camera recording that day's events. When Van Buren contacted the FBI, agents interviewed everyone working in the shop on April 18. And when they were done, they confiscated the video recorded that day.
Where's this tape?
And right there it will vanish.
Rumors of a "video" have existed for years. I am from Missouri...SHOW ME.
If he got the footage from an ATF agent then that would point to the government supressing evidence. Here they are trying to acquire the footage to prosecute Terry Nichols; this could backfire by showing that the government had some evidence that it "lost" or denied existing.
The government videotapes of the original Waco raid also have never been found. Maybe tracking devices need to be put on all government tape (not so out of the question, a brewer recently had a can tagged to send out a beacon signal for a contest winner and Wal-Mart is using such tags to track inventory).
People forget the BIG push that Bill Clinton made for investigation of right wing extremists as being the single biggest threat to America's national security. Talk radio was demonized for rallying "the troops", his critics were part of a "right wing conspiracy", he had the FBI investigating a "rash" of "unexplained" church fires (nothing out of the ordinary was happening and some were even insurance scams by pastors). Meanwhile America got "whacked" on 9.11.2001 and everyone is blaming George W. Bush for not being prepared.
It allegedly shows the explosion taking place inside the building.
Even if it there was enough to provide change for these 3 men, it might have necessitated a trip for the next customers.
Many businesses won't accept anything over a $20 bill (partly because of forgeries and partly because of the change issue). As it is, all ATMs give out nothing but $20s these days (and even tellers at the banks seem to default to giving out these bills).
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