September 30, 1994: Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirators Buy More Fertilizer

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols (see September 13, 1994 and After, September 13, 1994, September 13, 1994, and 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) buys 40 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate—one ton—from the Mid-Kansas Cooperative branch in McPherson, Kansas. Nichols buys the fertilizer under an alias, “Mike Havens.” Nichols’s co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh (see November 1991 - Summer 1992 and September 13, 1994 and After), bought 10 bags of the same fertilizer, which can be used to make a powerful explosive, the week before (see September 23, 1994). “Havens” turns down the offer of applying for the farmer’s tax exemption. The FBI will later find the receipt for today’s purchase, with a fingerprint belonging to McVeigh (see May 1, 1995), for $228.74 in cash. McVeigh also buys eight bags of ammonium nitrate in Manhattan, Kansas, one bag in Burns, Kansas, and six bags in a town near McPherson. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 810; Washington Post, 12/24/1997; Douglas O. Linder, 2001] Presumably they are keeping the fertilizer in a storage locker in Herington (see September 22, 1994).