Witnesses Detail Tests on Clothes McVeigh Wore

DENVER — Prosecution witnesses in the Oklahoma City bombing trial Thursday explained a careful series of steps that FBI agents took to preserve and test the clothing of defendant Timothy J. McVeigh to determine whether it contained debris from bomb components.

The testimony from various FBI agents and Oklahoma authorities is seen as a prelude to the next phase of the government’s case. Early next week, government lawyers hope to prove that McVeigh’s shirt, pants and earplugs contained traces of materials consistent with chemical compounds allegedly used to make the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Those compounds include ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, which the government said made up the two-ton bomb inside the back of a Ryder truck rented by McVeigh.

According to the government, McVeigh drove the truck from central Kansas to downtown Oklahoma City and parked it in front of the Murrah building. The explosion occurred at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500.

McVeigh, on trial for capital murder, has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

A second defendant, alleged co-conspirator Terry L. Nichols, is to be tried separately later.

Also testifying Thursday was Edward Michael Paddock, a former Ford Motor Co. engineer who said that numerous mangled truck parts found at the scene of the blast match the Ryder truck allegedly rented by McVeigh.

“I believe that there was only one vehicle that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing,” Paddock testified.

As they also did Wednesday, government lawyers brought many of the recovered pieces into the courtroom for inspection by the jury. They hoped to show not only the force of the blast but also that all the parts had come from the same vehicle.

Hundreds of pounds of truck debris have been carried into the courtroom, filling the well of the court and covering the area next to the jury box. At times, some jurors have had to stand to get a good look at the evidence.

Prosecutors also must show that among the dead were eight federal law enforcement agents. Under federal law, the murder of a federal law enforcement officer carries a possible sentence of death. Many of the witnesses the last two days have been federal agents testifying about the deaths of their colleagues.

Priscilla Salyers was at her desk in the Murrah building’s U.S. Customs Office when the blast hit. It sent her falling five stories to the ground below. She was then pinned under rubble.

While she was trapped for more than four hours, Salyers told the jury, she could hear rescue workers.

“I begged them, ‘Please don’t leave me,’ ” she said.