OU student left suicide message

The Oklahoman ^ | Sun October 16, 2005 | Nolan Clay

[MizSterious]

Sun October 16, 2005

OU student left suicide message

By Nolan Clay
The Oklahoman

NORMAN - The University of Oklahoma student who died in an explosion Oct. 1 left a message on his computer that he was going to quit living, his father said.

The FBI read the message to the father Friday, after he came to Oklahoma to clear out his son's university-owned apartment.

Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died when his bomb went off about 100 yards from the packed football stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State.

Hinrichs, 21, was from Colorado Springs, Colo. He had a reputation as a loner and had struggled at times with his grades. His parents had begun divorce proceedings.

Joel Hinrichs Jr. said he understood investigators found the message on the computer screen when they arrived at the apartment.

"It was a single line of text on his computer," said the father, who lives in Colorado Springs. "The cursor was still blinking at the end."

The father said he could not recall the exact wording but said his son used profanity in the message and was obviously very angry. "He wrote he was dissatisfied with the situation and was going to quit living," the father said.

His description of the message is consistent with the recollection of others who have been briefed about the investigation by the FBI.

No links to terrorist groups

FBI officials have said they may never know whether the student wanted to get inside the stadium. The student did not have a season ticket.

FBI officials also have said the investigation has not found any links between the student and terrorist organizations.

His father said he thinks his son was just committing suicide and never intended to hurt anyone else.

The father said the FBI on Friday showed him the fractured bench where his son was sitting when the bomb exploded and photos of his son's headless body and a tattered backpack.

The father said when cleaning out the apartment, he learned his son apparently had been having trouble sleeping and had bought Sominex, a sleep aid.

The younger Hinrichs had a long fascination with ammunition and bombs, his relatives and friends said. Inside his bedroom in Norman were several used metal artillery shells -- the largest about 2 feet long. He had belts of used brass shell casings, a box of spent bullets and military ammo containers.

He also had items more typical of many college students -- textbooks, empty liquor bottles, magazines and a martial arts movie videotape.

The father allowed two reporters from The Oklahoman into the bedroom briefly Thursday.

Bomb experts removed explosive-related materials from the apartment Oct. 2. Contributing: Randy Ellis

[TheDon]

The big question is who wrote the message.

[pepperdog]

A suicide note written on his computer, how very ingenious.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

I corrected myself, buzz off.

You corrected yourself while I was typing my post to you. It took a few minutes as I had to reword it a couple of times to not seem too harsh about your ignorant post. Now that you tell me to "buzz off" I don't mind pointing out your apparent inability to read or reason.

[SuziQ]

"He wrote he was dissatisfied with the situation and was going to quit living," the father said.

It doesn't seem that this message was written by a native speaker of the English language. "Dissatisfied with the situation"? "Quit living"?

That is strange phrasing.

[DCPatriot]

It said, "Death to the f*cking infidels!"

ROTFLMAO!

[jimbo123]

His last words were "Allah Akbar!"

[hispanarepublicana]

 

Media ignore importance of Muslim ties
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC - 9 hours ago
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

Media paralyzed by political correctness
Kansas City Star, MO - Oct 14, 2005
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

Nothing to see, move on
Washington Times, DC - Oct 13, 2005
... Hinrichs died outside the school's packed football stadium when a homemade bomb in his possession exploded. The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant ...
 

"HE KNEW A LOT ABOUT AMMUNITION"
New York Press, NY - Oct 12, 2005
... bomber didn't attend local mosques, eyewitnesses place Hinrichs at the ... request of the Justice Department, a federal court sealed the warrant that allowed ...
 

Nothing to See Here. Move Along
Human Events - Oct 12, 2005
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

COMMENTARY: Nothing to see here ... move along
Desert Dispatch, CA - Oct 12, 2005
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

Media might be missing a story and ignoring a terrorist
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - Oct 12, 2005
... the London subway bombers, exploded, killing Mr. Hinrichs as he ... What if the warrant used in the search of the bomber's apartment had been sealed by federal ...
 

Pussyfooting around Islam WorldNetDaily, OR - Oct 11, 2005 ... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...

Nothing to see here. Move along
Town Hall, DC - Oct 11, 2005
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

Islam is a Peaceful Religion: Move Along Nothing to See Here
National Ledger, AZ - Oct 11, 2005
... The Justice Department has sealed a search warrant in the ... is pooh-poohing local media and Internet blog reports of possible jihadist influences on Hinrichs. ...
 

[Hildy]

Does anyone listen to Rusty Humphries? I get him on XM radio. He was all into this, he was saying this guy was a converted MUSLIM, who went to the same mosque as some other terrorist bombers and there was a big coverrup going on....there's nothing like that here. What gives>

[PAR35]

When my computer is left unattended for a period of time, it goes black.

In Win98 click on the screesaver tab. Change none to "scrolling marquee". Above the time setting, click settings, type in your message. Click in "format text" to change fonts, and select scroll speed. When the screensaver activates, your message will appear on the screen, scrolling across. Click OK for that box, Apply on the next box, and you're all set.

Similar functions are available in other versions of Windows.

Some micromanagers will make folks use this feature for messages such as 'at lunch, back at 12:30'

[digitalbrownshirt]

re:comment 9

When I say I think he killed himself, I don't mean I'm certain that he killed himself at the time he planned as in a clear suicide. The timing might have been because of unstable explosives.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Agreed. It is my understanding that computer key strokes can be forensically traced back to original strokes.

I don't understand why, as you say, the computer wasn't in the possession of criminal investigators.

It appears that as questions regarding this arise - not all tin foil speculation - they will be "answered" by newly discovered information, evidence or announcements that something was overlooked.

Again, if I walk away from my computer, anyone here could simply walk over and type in whatever he/she wanted to write. Unless someone witnessed me typing the message, authorship is in question.

[digitalbrownshirt]

If it's not true, wouldn't the quoted by name sources complain about it? It seems like you're willing to believe whatever is convenient for you.

[Rte66]

I have the same problem with the NewsOK site--it is bombarding my pop-up blockers with 1000s of hits simultaneously, while the blockers are fighting back. The whole screen is just rippling, whilst the two are battling it out.

So many hundreds of little ad msgs are running across the status bar at the bottom that I have to turn off the "view status bar" or I'll have a Japanese-anime type conniption fit!

[Erasmus]

Since most software doesn't have a blinking cursor, I'm at a loss about that one.

Yup.

Except for DOS prompt, notepad, MS Word, this FR message composition box, etc.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: Boren is protecting the school's finances. Foreign students pay full tuition. . .Education is a business. Nothing more.

That's exactly right. After 9/11 California Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed restrictions on foreign students. The state's universities called her on the carpet and she quickly backed down. What's a few thousand American lives (3000 miles away) when California universities have millions of dollars at stake?

[Rte66]

The blinking cursor does make it seem like he was interrupted before he finished the message.

Like, they've come to get me! Or, I gotta go now, the timer is running down!

The bombpack was obviously not a last-minute "throw it in the bookbag and worry about it later" kind of thing.

"While writing in his diary, Joel had a spur-of-the-moment thought to go out and strap on a bomb by the stadium."

[Redcloak]

Was the message found before or after investigators hit the backspace a few times? (About 13 times, if you count the space between both words.)

</tinfoil>

[Rte66]

After living in Oklahoma most of our lives, but moving to TX before I started at OU, we had to pay out-of-state tuition for me because my parents didn't believe in having me register with family members' addresses in Oklahoma, like my grandmother's.

In-state students at that time, "back in the first millennium," eons ago, paid $7 per semester/hour. Out-of-state (such as *moi*) paid $20/semester hour. Huge difference. I also had scholarships I couldn't use because there was no "need."

I have no idea what the arrangements are nowadays.