April 15, 1995: Oklahoma City Bomber Tells Sister, Friend ‘Something Big Is Going to Happen’

Timothy McVeigh, preparing to execute the Oklahoma City bombing (see 7:00 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), tells his friend and fellow co-conspirator Terry Nichols (see April 16-17, 1995), “Something big is going to happen.” McVeigh had mailed two letters to his sister Jennifer (see March 9, 1995 and April 7, 1995) telling her that “something big is going to happen,” and followed them with an envelope full of clippings from the novel The Turner Diaries (see 1978). When she learns of her brother’s arrest in connection with the bombing, she will burn the clippings. [New York Times, 4/26/1995; New York Times, 5/7/1997; Anti-Defamation League, 2005] Press reports will say that Jennifer in turn has already told friends in December 1994 that “something big is going to happen in March or April, and Tim’s involved” (see Mid-December 1994), but she will deny saying this. [New York Times, 8/4/1995] This information will later be included in an affidavit accompanying an arrest warrant for Nichols (see April 25, 1995).