30 years later: Retelling the twisted plot of the Oklahoma City bombing

Thirty years ago, two former soldiers acted on their hatred of the federal government by bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City. Here are key events in Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols' twisted plot leading up to the terrorist attack and significant moments after the tragedy, including the journey to justice and in the task of remembering what happened with a world-class memorial.

1994

Sept. 30: Nichols buys the first ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer for the bomb from a Kansas farm supply store. He uses the fake name “Mike Havens.”

Oct. 1: McVeigh and Nichols steal blasting caps and other explosives from a Kansas quarry.

Oct. 18: A second ton of fertilizer is purchased.

Oct. 21: McVeigh, disguised as a biker, buys $2,775 worth of nitromethane racing fuel for the bomb at a Texas track.

Nov. 5: Nichols robs a gun collector in Arkansas to finance the bombing.

Dec. 16: McVeigh drives by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and points it out as his target to his friend Michael Fortier.

1995

April 14: McVeigh buys his getaway car, a 1977 Mercury Marquis, at a Firestone store in Junction City, Kansas. He checks into the Dreamland Motel.

April 15: McVeigh pays $280.32 in cash at Elliott’s Body Shop in Junction City to rent the 20-foot Ryder truck that will hold the bomb. He uses the fake name “Robert D. Kling.”

April 16: McVeigh leaves the getaway car in Oklahoma City on Easter. On the dashboard, he puts a note: “Not Abandoned. Please do not tow.” Nichols follows McVeigh to Oklahoma City and drives McVeigh back to Junction City.

April 17: McVeigh picks up the Ryder truck from Elliott’s Body Shop.

April 18: McVeigh and Nichols build the bomb in the back of the Ryder truck at Geary Lake in Kansas.

April 19: McVeigh parks the truck outside the federal building and flees on foot to his getaway car. The bomb explodes at 9:02 a.m., ripping to ruins the nine-story structure. The explosion kills 168 people, including 19 children, and injures several hundred.

At 10:17 a.m.: An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper notices the Mercury Marquis is missing a license tag and pulls over McVeigh on Interstate 35 north of Perry. Trooper Charlie Hanger arrests McVeigh after noticing a handgun under McVeigh’s windbreaker.

April 20: FBI releases sketches of two suspects: John Doe No. 1 and John Doe No. 2. McVeigh is identified from the first sketch as the renter of the bomb truck.

April 21: FBI agents arrest McVeigh for the bombing after learning he is still in the Noble County jail on a weapons offense. Nichols hears his name on news coverage about the bombing and goes to the police in Herington, Kansas. FBI agents question him there for hours. “In my eyes, I did not do anything wrong, but I can see how lawyers can turn stuff around,” he tells agents.

April 22: Nichols is arrested, at first as a material witness.

May 23: The remainder of the Murrah Building is leveled with explosives.

June 14: The Justice Department announces the man depicted in the “John Doe No. 2” sketch is an Army private who had nothing to do with the bombing. The man had been at Elliott’s Body Shop with a friend a day after the bomb truck was picked up.

Aug. 10: A federal grand jury in Oklahoma City indicts McVeigh and Nichols on 11 felony counts accusing them of the bombing and the deaths of eight law enforcement agents. The grand jury also indicts Fortier but on lesser counts. Fortier pleads guilty to four felony counts under a deal that requires him to be a government witness. He admits he knew of the plot and failed to tell anyone.

1996

Feb. 20: U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch moves the bombing case to Denver, ruling the defendants cannot get a fair trial in Oklahoma.

1997

June 2: McVeigh is found guilty at a federal trial in Denver of all 11 counts. Jurors convict him of the bombing, the conspiracy and the first-degree murder of eight federal agents. Hundreds gather outside the courthouse to applaud the verdict.

June 13: Jurors choose the death penalty as McVeigh’s punishment. “We asked ourselves: ‘Why? Why would somebody do this?’ And we never could come to an answer,” juror Vera Chubb said.

Dec. 23: Nichols is convicted at a federal trial of the bombing conspiracy but acquitted of any direct blame for the attack. He also is convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the deaths of the eight federal agents rather than murder.

1998

Jan. 7: Nichols’ federal trial ends when jurors can’t agree on his punishment for the bombing conspiracy. Their deadlock means he cannot get the death penalty in his federal case.

May 27: Fortier is sentenced in Oklahoma City to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000. “I was terribly wrong,” he says at the sentencing. “I deeply regret not taking the information I had to the police. … I sometimes daydream that I did do this and became a hero, but reality is that I am not.”

June 4: Nichols is sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of release. The judge calls Nichols “an enemy of the Constitution.”

Oct. 25: Thousands gather at the bomb site for the groundbreaking of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

Dec. 30: An Oklahoma County grand jury wraps up an investigation of the bombing without naming any new suspects.

1999

March 29: Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy files a state murder case against Nichols and announces he will seek the death penalty.

Oct. 8: After winning an appeal, Fortier is resentenced to the same time in prison − 12 years. His new fine is $75,000.

2000

Jan. 30-31: Nichols is moved to the Oklahoma County jail from a federal prison in Colorado.

April 19: The Oklahoma City National Memorial officially opens, at first to victims' families, who are escorted by rescue workers to the Field of Empty Chairs.

2001

Feb. 19: President George W. Bush comes to Oklahoma City to dedicate the Memorial Museum.

April 29: The first Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is run.

June 11: McVeigh is executed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Sept. 5: The new Oklahoma County district attorney, Wes Lane, announces the state case will go forward.

2004

May 26: Nichols is found guilty at a state trial in McAlester of 161 counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 160 civilians and the loss of an unborn girl. He also is found guilty of first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson.

June 11: Jurors deadlock on punishment after three days of deliberations. They are stuck at 8-4, then 7-5, for death. The deadlock spares Nichols, again, from a death sentence.

Aug. 9: Judge Steven Taylor sentences Nichols to 161 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Aug. 24: Nichols is flown back to the federal prison in Colorado after he decides not to appeal his state conviction.

Nov. 28: The Oklahoman reports that Nichols had confessed during secret failed plea negotiations before his state trial. Most significantly, he admitted helping McVeigh in “the actual making of the bomb.” He revealed they had to siphon diesel fuel from his pickup to finish it.

2005

March 31-April 1: The FBI finds hundreds of blasting caps buried in a crawl space underneath Nichols' former house in Herington, Kansas.

2006

Jan. 20: Fortier is released from federal prison.

2010

April 6: Gov. Brad Henry holds a ceremonial bill signing for a law requiring all Oklahoma school students be taught about the Oklahoma City bombing.

2014

Sept. 15: A new museum wing opens to the public. The wing, the first stage of a $10 million enhancement project, features McVeigh’s getaway car and an overlook of the memorial.

2015

March 10: The Oklahoma City National Memorial is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

2025

Jan. 29: A $12 million three-story expansion of the museum is announced.