When the FBI Got Ahold of Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh, He Was Already in Jail

On April 21, 1995, Timothy McVeigh was led by heavily armed guards into a helicopter that was taking him to Oklahoma City. A crowd of people surrounded his perp walk, screaming obscenities at the man who was two days shy of his 27th birthday. They chanted "baby killer" as McVeigh scanned the crowd, reported Court TV via CNN. McVeigh later told his biographer that he was afraid someone in the crowd was going to kill him, a sniper perhaps.

It had only been two days since McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The vehicle had been turned into a makeshift bomb, which exploded and caused the deaths of 168 people, 19 of whom were children. His accomplice, Terry Nichols, turned himself in the same day that McVeigh was returning to the scene of the crime. How was Timothy McVeigh caught? Here's what we know.

At precisely 9:02 a.m. on April 19, the bomb inside McVeigh's truck exploded. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, "A third of the building had been reduced to rubble, with many floors flattened like pancakes. Dozens of cars were incinerated and more than 300 nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed." The following day, FBI officials were able to locate the rear axle of the Ryder truck and its vehicle identification number. This led them to a body shop in Junction City, Kans.

Eldon Elliott was the proprietor of Elliott's Body Shop, and he told authorities that McVeigh rented the truck on April 15, 1995, under the name Robert D. Kling, reported The Oklahoman. He later testified that McVeigh told him he was driving to Omaha, Nebr. Employees at the shop also helped authorities put together a composite sketch, which they immediately took around town. They hit pay dirt at the Dreamland Motel, where workers said they recognized the drawings and provided a name: Tim McVeigh.

McVeigh was driving his 1977 yellow Mercury Marquis on Interstate Highway 35 an hour and a half after the bombing, when he was pulled over by Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charles Hanger, per the Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program. Trooper Hanger stopped McVeigh because his vehicle had no license plate. McVeigh told him that he was returning from Arkansas.

Based on the misdemeanor traffic violation and the fact that McVeigh was traveling with a concealed weapon, Trooper Hanger arrested him. His car was left on the side of the road, and McVeigh was booked into Noble County Jail in Perry, Okla. McVeigh was there for two days by the time the FBI called the Bureau’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia, only to find their suspect was already behind bars.

The FBI was then able to test McVeigh's clothing, and they found "traces of the chemicals used in the explosion," as well as a "business card on which he had suspiciously scribbled, 'TNT @ $5/stick, need more.'" Ultimately, the FBI conducted more than 28,000 interviews and followed 43,000 investigative leads, which resulted in three and a half tons of evidence.