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Utahn obtains documents in prison death of brother [FBI WAS looking into wider conspiracy at OKC]
Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 7/27/2005 | Tim Talley

Posted on 07/27/2005 5:07:16 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity

OKLAHOMA CITY - The FBI has turned over 17 internal reports to a Utah lawyer who is trying to prove his brother was killed in a federal holding cell in Oklahoma City during a botched interrogation by federal authorities.

The records were handed over last week under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who is seeking evidence for his theory that his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, was murdered in an isolation cell at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City in August 1995.

Jesse Trentadue believes authorities mistakenly suspected that his brother - a convicted bank robber - was part of a gang that robbed banks to finance attacks on the government, possibly including the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

Among other things, the documents reveal that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were investigating evidence of a wider conspiracy in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building months after claiming the conspiracy was limited to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

The documents, which have been heavily redacted to delete the names of confidential sources and other information, also indicate that investigators looked into McVeigh's attempts to contact a resident of Elohim City, a heavily fortified compound in eastern Oklahoma, in the days prior to the bombing.

Separate documents state that telephone records and confidential informants indicate McVeigh called the Elohim City compound at least twice - on April 5, 1995, and around April 17, 1995. ''McVeigh may have been trying to recruit other individuals to assist him,'' states a document dated Jan. 26, 1996.

Authorities have previously said that McVeigh may have tried to contact Andreas Strassmeier, a German national who was head of security for Elohim City. Strassmeir has denied involvement in the bomb plot.

Another heavily edited memo, dated Jan. 4, 1996, states that someone affiliated with the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group, was at Elohim City about two weeks before the bombing when one of the Oklahoma bombing suspects allegedly called looking for a co-conspirator.

The name of the caller is blacked out, but the person is described as one of the two indicted defendants in the bombing. McVeigh was executed in 2001 and Nichols is serving state and federal life prisons sentences for the bombing.

Jesse Trentadue had already obtained a copy of that memo, which was released years earlier to a different person who had requested the document.

Local and federal investigations ruled Kenneth Trentadue's death a suicide, although bruises and other marks on his body raised questions among some officials about whether he was murdered or committed suicide.

Kenneth Trentadue, 44, was being held on an alleged parole violation when guards found him dead on Aug. 21, 1995, hanging from a noose made of torn bed sheets.

Prison officials told the family he suffered several injuries when his first hanging attempt failed, before succeeding on a second hanging attempt.

His family insists he was killed and contend correctional officials destroyed evidence. Authorities have denied the allegations. Several investigations also ruled the death a suicide.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: okc; trentadue
Every so often an update about this debacle surfaces and it's looking more and more like murder.
1 posted on 07/27/2005 5:07:17 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

"Among other things, the documents reveal that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were investigating evidence of a wider conspiracy in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building months after claiming the conspiracy was limited to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols."

I seem to recall a possible connection drawn between McVeigh and either Muslims or leftists.


2 posted on 07/27/2005 5:18:06 PM PDT by strategofr (What did happen to those 293 boxes of secret FBI files (esp on Senators) Hillary stole?)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

I don't know how it could look like anything else. The man had bootprints on his back. While a prisoner can commit suicide, it's pretty darned hard to stomp yourself on the back.


3 posted on 07/27/2005 5:21:39 PM PDT by MizSterious (Now, if only we could convince them all to put on their bomb-vests and meet in Mecca...)
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To: strategofr
I seem to recall a possible connection drawn between McVeigh and either Muslims or leftists.

They both hate the US, that's for sure.

4 posted on 07/27/2005 5:22:05 PM PDT by IncPen (There's nothing that a liberal can't improve using your money...)
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To: MizSterious

Some of Clinton's victims supposedly shot themselves in the back with a shotgun.....


5 posted on 07/27/2005 5:23:35 PM PDT by buffyt (America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. Pres. George Bush)
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To: IncPen

That is why they are still holding Padilla.


6 posted on 07/27/2005 5:24:00 PM PDT by buffyt (America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. Pres. George Bush)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

I have never been comfortable with government actions surrounding the OKC bombing.


7 posted on 07/27/2005 5:29:24 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (US socialist liberalism would be dead without the help of politicians who claim to be conservative.)
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To: buffyt

"Some of Clinton's victims supposedly shot themselves in the back with a shotgun....."

LOL! I have to admit I haven't heard that one that I can recall.


8 posted on 07/27/2005 5:32:01 PM PDT by strategofr (What did happen to those 293 boxes of secret FBI files (esp on Senators) Hillary stole?)
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To: strategofr

There were numerous mentions of Middle Eastern men seen in the company of one Tim McVeigh, and other phone connections, international connections. All were round-filed. Case closed. It was a lone white wacko, look no further.


9 posted on 07/27/2005 5:32:40 PM PDT by Sender (Team Infidel USA)
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To: Sender
It was a lone white wacko, look no further.

If Waco hadn't already sealed it for me, OKC and the whitewash totally convinced me that EVERY function of the Federal government had been totally subordinated to making sure the Clintons stayed in power.

It's inconceivable that there would not be a thorough investigation of something as horrendous as OKC. Now there never will be, even though Saddam's fingerprints were probably all over it.

Discovering Saddam's fingerprints would have forced Billy to actually DO something, besides make inane speeches and get blow jobs.

10 posted on 07/27/2005 5:39:09 PM PDT by WarEagle (Karl Rove had nothing to do with this...deal with it)
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To: Sender

"There were numerous mentions of Middle Eastern men seen in the company of one Tim McVeigh, and other phone connections, international connections. All were round-filed. Case closed. It was a lone white wacko, look no further."

Yeah, I thought so. This was the one great counter-example they needed, to "prove" the problem is "equally right and left".


11 posted on 07/27/2005 5:54:56 PM PDT by strategofr (What did happen to those 293 boxes of secret FBI files (esp on Senators) Hillary stole?)
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To: strategofr
I seem to recall a possible connection drawn between McVeigh and either Muslims or leftists.

Ah yeah, but it was quickly shut down by the Clinton justice dept.

12 posted on 07/27/2005 5:58:13 PM PDT by ladyinred (Here come the judges!)
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To: ladyinred

Muslims did it. They wanted to show the U.S. that they could strike deep in its heartland, and that they could destroy the most secure buildings -- the local Federal H.Q.

All the McVeigh stuff is just a cover story.


13 posted on 07/27/2005 6:03:17 PM PDT by ReadyNow
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To: WarEagle

Yep. Bubba stood on the pulpit, gave speeches, and didn't do a damn thing for the country. His full time "job" was running scams to get richer.


14 posted on 07/27/2005 6:07:36 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." -- G.W. Bush, regarding Sen. Kerry's lack of vision)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

So, the brother may have been "tortured" during interrogation related to a terrorist attack, and he subsequently died.

Apparently, "torture" is ok when the accused terrorists are "right-wing extremists", since this hasn't gotten nearly the coverage of Gitmo or Abu-Ghraib.


15 posted on 07/27/2005 6:10:19 PM PDT by thompsonsjkc
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Try and check the prison duty rosters to see if the same former Arkansas state trooper who did Jim McDougal in the federal prison in Fort Worth also did this guy. Jim was going to talk about some things that would have gotten Willie, sure thing, so he had to go. Just as Willie uses Sandy Berger to sneak in and steal/destroy incriminating documents, he's got a guy to do dangerous witnesses.


16 posted on 07/27/2005 6:49:50 PM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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