The 35th Latitude Theory
A mysterious chain of events and unfortunate occurrences in Oklahoma, United States over a period of decades.
Such events are also referred to as the Line of Tragedy, which outlines multiple violent deaths throughout the decades.
In 1921, racial tensions were high and lynching was not uncommon.
Rumors flew due to various controversial events resulting in the Tulsa Race Massacre, which left an estimated 300 local residents dead in just 18 hours.
In 2001, Andrea Pia Kennedy Yates drowned all five of her children in the bathtub while suffering from postpartum depression.
In 2009, Pastor Carol Daniels was found mutilated and propped inside her church in a crucifix position.
Some say it was a botched robbery. Others believe it was a ritualistic murder of a local cult.
Also in 2009, Bobby and Jamie Lynn Jamison, along with their daughter Madison, disappeared under mysterious circumstances while scouting for land near Red Oak, Oklahoma.
You can learn more about the Jamison family by going back to episode number 47 on Dying to be Found, dated May 1, 2023.
In 2013, Tommy Raymond Eastep disappeared on the 35th Latitude under very similar circumstances as the Jamison family.
Today, we're going to go back to 1995 where we'll learn more about the infamous Timothy McFay and the Oklahoma City bombings, where McFay detonated a 4800 pound ammonium nitrate fuel oil bomb housed in a rider truck that he parked at the north entrance of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.
168 people were left dead and between 7 to 850 people were left injured.
Hi everyone. This is Deb from Dying to be Found True Crime Podcast.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Timothy James McFay was born as the middle child to Bill and Mildred or Mickey McFay on April 23, 1968, and grew up just on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York.
When Timothy was 10 years old, his parents divorced. Timothy remained with his father while his two sisters went to live with their mother for a short time before all three ended back under the same roof in their father's home.
There was nothing unusual about McFay while he grew up. He was quiet, but very intelligent.
At the age of 14, Timothy was introduced to the National Rifle Association or NRA through a gun safety course that he had enrolled in to obtain his hunting license.
He soon expressed his interest to live as a survivalist and began stockpiling food and emergency supplies in his basement in the event of a nuclear attack.
Timothy eventually graduated high school in 1986 and enrolled in computer courses at a local business college.
He soon began a career as an amateur computer hacker, but it was also during this time that McFay became obsessed with guns.
It didn't take long before McFay soon became bored with computers and ended up leaving school. He took on menial jobs such as driving an armored truck for somewhere around eight months.
He loved wearing a uniform and carrying a gun, but his views on life and certain populations were changing.
It was during this time period that McFay began developing ignorant racist views against the African American population based on simple observations of the communities that he would make deliveries to during his day job with the armored truck service.
McFay would make assumptions of the people around him while making those deliveries and would even go so far as to draw his gun during his deliveries to any check cashing businesses.
His infatuation with black Americans soon became an obsession because when he wasn't driving his armored truck vehicle, McFay would drive around the neighborhoods to make derogatory assumptions of a culture he did not understand nor even care to learn about.
McFay eventually found his path in life when, in 1988, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
During his tenure, McFay actually became a model, decorated soldier, albeit with a biased mindset. His shoes were perfectly polished, his pants were starched, and McFay was always perfectly dressed while in uniform.
Basic training began in Fort Benning, Georgia, where he met a fellow soldier named Terry Nichols, who had come from Michigan.
Both men developed a friendship after discovering that they had quite a lot in common. Both men were survivalists and gun enthusiasts, which authorities now believe why McFay at least thrived so well in the Army.
I mentioned briefly that McFay was very intelligent. When tested on intellect, he scored above average, exceptionally really, in math, science, electronics, and high tech.
Physically, McFay did just as well. He was in great shape and made a perfect score, 1000 out of 1000, in a Bradley fighting vehicle gunner competition, which was extremely rare, according to military standards.
During his enlistment, McFay built his resume as an elite. In November 1990, he continued on with his stellar military career by ranking as sergeant, and most notably, McFay was accepted into the Special Forces after earning a perfect score during a live fire test as a tank operator.
Let me tell you about this Bradley fighting vehicle competition. It consists of an operator maneuvering through a competitive field in an armored, full-tracked vehicle and demonstrating skill sets designed for cross-country mobility, mounted firepower, and protection from artillery and small arms fire.
Although the Bradley fighting vehicle resembles a tank, it's anything but. The Bradley carries a tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided missile that is designed to take out a tank from 3000 meters or 1.86 miles away.
McFay's perfect scorecard in this rigorous competition consisted of target acquisition and identification, estimated target and firing range priorities, monitoring ammunition expenditures, and correcting malfunctions on major weaponry.
The operator is expected to clear any malfunctions, designate the correct field of fire to hit a target while avoiding other military vehicles in a combat zone, all at a 360-degree angle.
One of the most difficult tasks to complete during the Bradley fight vehicle competition is the reaction to enemy fire, which is coordinated with a team commander and gunner personnel.
A complete list of the gunnery training for the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle with detailed descriptions on the competition scorecard can be found in our show notes.
Besides McFay's high-tech skills in combat training with military vehicles, he successfully ran a lucrative side business by charging new Army recruits 25% returns on loans when they ran out of money before payday.
He stored military meals ready to eat, or MREs, in a storage locker and sold them to Army surplus stores for cash.
He also began stockpiling guns, and when I say stockpiling, I mean lots of them.
Not that he ever intended on selling any, he simply began building up his own weapon supply as a gun enthusiast.
McFay also learned more about the Molotov Cocktail, which will come into play as McFay's obsessions with explosives begin to grow.
And for those of you who don't know, Molotov cocktails consist of a container filled with a flammable liquid, many times gasoline, which ignites when the fuse is lit, then thrown at an intended target.
Between 1988 and 1990, Timothy McFay worked diligently to build his reputation as a highly decorated soldier on the fast track with special forces.
But just as his notoriety rose, McFay's stature was quickly knocked down when he suddenly received orders to put his training on hold.
McFay was about to be deployed to the Persian Gulf under Operation Desert Shield, a military buildup operative in anticipation of the Gulf War that was known as Desert Storm.
During his time overseas, McFay did nothing less than provide a stellar performance in his role in the infantry.
In fact, he had just earned a combat infantry badge plus a Bronze Star during his participation as a deployed soldier during the Gulf War.
How was this accomplished? During his deployment, McFay was sent on a mission to enter enemy territory, which he knew would initiate the very first battle within the Gulf War.
When McFay was sent on this mission, he later described himself as the sacrificial lamb without regard to someone actually being a living, breathing human being.
In other words, McFay considered himself to be nothing more than a machine programmed to make the very first move in a highly intense battle amongst enemies.
But don't feel sorry for him because remember who Timothy McFay is and what he is best known for, which is not the decorated military vet that we know him as right now.
Going back to his Bradley Fighting Vehicle training and Special Forces capabilities for just a moment, while on his mission in the Gulf, McFay successfully used his training to target an Iraqi soldier who was manning a machine gun 1,828 meters away.
That's about 1.13 miles, which is just under the distance that McFay was tested for during his Bradley competition.
Although McFay was awarded several more medals in his military career, he did suffer from PTSD.
He was in great shape before leaving for the Gulf, but given the circumstances he faced in combat, he returned from deployment without the same stamina and was never able to step back into his role with Special Forces training.
Even though he had tried to pick up where he had left off before his deployment, McFay was no longer in the mindset or physical condition to complete the required 400 push-ups per day or march with 80 pound sand sacks in his rucksack.
In 1991, Timothy McFay made the conscious decision to hang up his boots and go back to civilian life.
He wrote a letter to the Army officials stating he was not physically ready for the rucksack march because it hurt more than it should.
In other words, he was tapping out and was not given a second chance to reconsider.
Upon release from the military, McFay returned to New York and lived with his father for somewhere around the next year while reacclimating himself to society.
He went back to what he knew before the military and once again became a security guard in various positions.
It was during this time that McFay became what we would refer to as a conspiracy theorist.
He became very isolated and very extreme in his political views, specifically towards gun control.
McFay believed that the government was infringing upon his constitutional rights to bear arms and he soon began his obsession with not only firearms but with militia groups as well.
Timothy McFay declared that he himself was a freedom fighter who fought a lonely battle against the government.
He began reading neo-Nazi books, one in particular that described loading trucks with explosives made from fertilizer and fuel, then detonating them at the FBI headquarters.
By 1992, McFay began voicing more distaste of the U.S. government during a standoff in Ruby Ridge, Idaho,
where an 11-day standoff occurred between the U.S. government and a local citizen named Randy Weaver, where Weaver was being tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, or AFT, on weapons charges.
And let's just say lots of firearms were involved, which didn't fit with Timothy McFay's mindset that the government was interfering with somebody's right to bear arms.
By 1993, McFay traveled between New York, Michigan, and Arizona, where two of his army buddies were living, and was likely beginning to conjure up plans to retaliate during this time.
Remember now, Timothy had befriended a man from Michigan by the name of Terry Nichols when both men were at basic training for the military.
During this same year, McFay traveled to Waco, Texas to pass out anti-government literature during a little protest that was going on there at this time.
A man named David Koresh operated what some refer to as a cult, but is best known today as the Branch Davidian.
This situation that McFay was demonstrating for was very similar to Ruby Ridge, only this time, the standoff between the Branch Davidian and the ATF lasted around 51 days.
This incident occurred in Waco, where McFay went to hand out those flyers. In McFay's words, this was the final straw between the government and their interference on citizens' rights.
McFay firmly believed that the government was attacking Americans' personal rights and freedoms before the Waco siege, so this situation intensified his anger and hatred towards the federal government.
McFay continued to have an unhealthy obsession with the Waco incident and carried a lot of resentment based on its outcome.
And with his growing hatred for the U.S. government, Timothy McFay began actively working behind the scenes to devise a plan to destroy anyone standing in his way.
By 1995, McFay had time to develop his angry, extremist views and was now on a vengeance to single-handedly destroy the U.S. government.
He began stockpiling more guns and ammunition and devised a plan to retaliate against the events that occurred in Waco, Texas in 1993.
On April 19, 1995, exactly two years after Waco, Texas made history, Timothy McFay arrived at the Elford P. Murrah Federal Building located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which housed 14 federal government agencies and had loads of U.S. government workers there.
The Elford P. Murrah Federal Building was a nine-story tall concrete and granite building, which was about 200 feet wide by 80 feet deep.
That's the length of four semi-trucks lined up end to end and also about one tennis court deep.
McFay arrived in downtown Oklahoma City in a Ryder truck around 8 o'clock a.m. that morning and attempted to enter a parking garage.
However, once he arrived, McFay discovered the truck was too tall to enter into the parking garage and he was forced to drive around the city while devising a backup plan.
Just before 9 a.m. on April 19, 1995, Timothy James McFay parked his rental truck in a handicapped parking spot inside an alleyway between the Elford P. Murrah Federal Building and the old post office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which was designated for the daycare center located inside the federal building.
McFay got out of his truck and simply walked away, leaving behind an inventory of almost 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fuel bomb consisting of a combination of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals.
Where did he get this idea? From those neo-Nazi books that he had read after just being released from the military in 1991.
At 9 o'clock a.m., the rental truck exploded, taking down at least one-third of the federal building, incinerating dozens of surrounding vehicles and destroying more than 300 buildings and businesses within a 48-square-block area.
The blast had just killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured over 800 more.
Those who were lucky enough to survive the blast later said that they had been thrown backwards from the bomb detonating and described the scene afterwards as a war zone that consisted of an eerie silence following the blast just before fire alarms began going off.
One field investigator, who was working from a satellite office about five miles or eight kilometers from the federal building, later stated that everything in his office shook and fell off the shelves as if there were an earthquake.
That agent looked toward downtown Oklahoma City and witnessed a big tan cloud of debris rising into the sky. He immediately knew a bomb had exploded.
Another agent, who was on duty seven miles or 11 kilometers away, said people immediately ducked for cover from the blast, which officially registered 3.2 on the Richter scale.
Now, 3.2 would not be considered detrimental or cause a lot of damage. You would definitely be aware that there's an earthquake occurring, and you would probably see some items shaking and trembling around you, but buildings would begin crumbling at a measured 6.0 on the Richter scale, so what was felt miles away could be considered mild.
So this is where I'm going to end part one. We have lots to cover next week, so be sure to tune in where we'll dive into the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing.
In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and leave you with a teachable moment here.
There's something called the bystander effect. That's when numerous people witness something all at the same time, but most assume that someone else is going to take action.
Let's say you're at a gas station and you see a couple get into a domestic dispute.
A man sitting in the passenger seat starts yelling at a woman while she's out pumping gas, and he proceeds to throw a drink on her, soaking her from head to foot.
Would you get involved? Would you call the police? Or would you just let them go on their merry way after noticing the woman is clearly and visibly upset?
Many people would just watch and do nothing. So my teachable moment here is don't be a bystander. Don't assume someone else will get involved.
Call the police because you might be the only one that does.
Even though we know domestic abuse can certainly escalate, there are lots of other instances where if something doesn't look right, it's not right.
Now, I know the time that Timothy McFay arrived in Oklahoma City was relatively early.
People were either at work or not quite there yet, especially in a federal building.
But pay attention to your surroundings because you may just save a life, including your own. And that's my teachable moment.
All right. As always, thank you for joining me here today. Be sure to tune in for part two of Timothy McFay and the Oklahoma City bombing.
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