Judge David L. Russell 1210 Federal Court House 200 N.W. 4th Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Dear Judge Russell:
Pursuant to instructions from lead prosecutor, Joseph Hartzler, I write you this letter to express my concerns about the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. January is coming upon us fast and I am concerned that there will then be no one in authority with sufficient motivation to pursue the case.
The families of the victims deserve to know who all was involved in the bombing, and there appears to be an attempt to protect the identity of certain suspects, namely John Doe II, evidenced by the following:
1) The hoax perpetrated by authorities that John Doe II was a Ft. Riley private who rented a truck on a different day. The Ft. Riley private was not with Tim McVeigh, nor does he remotely resemble the police sketch of John Doe II.
2) The lack of witnesses relating to John Doe II, namely:
a) the manager of the Great Western Inn on I-70 in Junction City, Kansas, where John Doe II registered using a foreign name and reportedly stayed in room #107. This manager apparently reported that John Doe II spoke in broken English and was driving the mystery "second Ryder truck." Strangely, this manager has reportedly "disappeared" and cannot be found;
b) the Elliott's Body Shop employee that reportedly gave the FBI artist the description of Tim McVeigh and John Doe II. The McVeigh sketch was almost perfect and there is no reason to doubt that the John Doe II sketch is less so;
c) the Oklahoma City tire shop employee who saw John Doe II in the Ryder truck with McVeigh shortly before the explosion.
3) The lack of the use of the John Doe II sketch in interviewing witnesses that had apparently seen him in locations other than those previously acknowledged.
Perhaps a new Grand Jury should be empaneled in 1996 dedicated to this investigation. If so, I suggest the following list of witnesses that need to be subpoenaed for testimony:
1) The manager (at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing) of the Great Western Inn on I-70 in Junction City, Kansas, if he is still alive and can be found.
2) The Ft. Riley private identified by authorities as John Doe II.
3) Architects, structural engineers and explosive experts selected by the Grand Jury.
4) Area seismologists and geophysicists, including Ray Brown.
5) All video surveillance tapes from cameras near the Murrah Building, including the one made by a Southwestern Bell camera which reportedly shows John Doe II getting out of the Ryder truck before McVeigh drove it to the Murrah Building.
6) Ralph McPeak, Jr.
7) Vickie Beemer
8) Tom Kissinger
9) Hilda Sostra
10) Mike Moroz
11) James Rosencrans
Time may be of the essence before witnesses disappear or lose their memories or their materials. The truth is as important to you as it is to me, I trust; therefore your response will be eagerly awaited.
Very truly yours,
Hoppy Heidelberg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The response to Hoppy Heidelberg from Judge David L. Russell
David L. Russell, Chief Judge United States District Court Western District of Oklahoma 200 N.W. 4th Street Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102
October 24, 1995
Mr. Hoppy Heidelberg
Re: U.S.A. v. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols: Case No. CR-95-110-A; and U.S.A. v. Michael Fortier, Case No. CR-95-111-R, United States District Court- Western District of Oklahoma
Dear Mr. Heidelberg:
Effective immediately, you are dismissed from the grand jury. Your obligation of secrecy continues. Any disclosure of matters that occurred before the grand jury constitutes a contempt of court. Each violation of the obligation of secrecy may be punished cumulatively.
Sincerely,
David L. Russell United States District Judge
WITNESSES:
JON HERSLEY(FBI Agent)
Q. In your review of the surveillance photos, did you find any surveillance photos of that parking lot across the street from the Murrah Building?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay.
A. You characterized that as my review of the photographs. I was shown those particular photographs by Agent Lamar.
Q. Have you been shown a photograph of that particular parking lot, sir, across the street from the Murrah Building that includes the speeding Mercury in the photograph?
A. We don't know for sure yet. Those photographs are not
real clear. They are taken from a pretty good distance away. There appears to be a light-colored car in the very vicinity where this witness testifies -- or provides the information was speeding away from. We are not able to determine yet if that is in fact the yellow Mercury.
Q. Can you clearly tell in the photographs that you have seen or have you been advised that you can clearly tell in the film the time of the explosion?
A. I'm not sure I understand your question.
Q. Well, I don't know how to -- can you tell in the film or the photographs when the explosion occurs?
A. The film that I viewed was before the explosion. I did not view the entire film. The pictures that were shown to me were before the explosion.
Q. The pictures that you saw of that particular parking lot -- now I'm talking about the parking lot across the street from the Murrah Building --
A. Right.
Q. -- in a northerly direction, that parking lot, there is film of that parking lot prior to the time of the explosion?
A. Yes.
Q. Correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it time-stamped so that you can tell a particular time of day on the 19th of April that that camera is viewing, scanning that parking lot?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you tell me where that particular camera was located?
A. I believe that particular camera was located on the apartment building there that we have been speaking of.
Q. So those were some more pictures from the Regency?
A. Yes, those are the pictures from the Regency.
Q. So the camera from the Regency -- is this the camera at the very top of the Regency Tower?
A. I don't know the exact location of the camera, but it kind of scans that whole area there, is what has been represented to me. It scans in front of the Tower building and also over towards the parking lot.