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An hour and a half later, a state trooper stopped McVeigh near Perry, Oklahoma, because his car had no rear license plate. The trooper saw he had a gun and arrested him. Using the vehicle-identification number on the Ryder truck's axle, which survived the blast, the FBI learned from Ryder which location the truck had been rented from. Descriptions of McVeigh by two people at the rental office were the basis of a sketch that agents showed to motel desk clerks in the area. The owner of the Dreamland recognized McVeigh and gave his name. Federal agents ran it through a national-crime database and discovered that McVeigh was in jail in Perry. Just before he was about to be released, the FBI called and had him held.
The prosecutors will try to present evidence that supports this narrative at each of its crucial points. At present, however, they apparently have no plans to call any witnesses who will testify to seeing McVeigh at the Murrah building at the time of the bombing. While several people have made a statement to that effect, the FBI maintains that they are not reliable, according to sources close to the case. Not everyone agrees that these accounts should be dismissed, however (see box). One person insisted vehemently to TIME that he had never changed his story, contrary to what FBI sources had maintained. If the statements were reliable, the government still might have an interest in declining to present such testimony. These individuals have said they saw McVeigh with other men, and to allow mention of unknown, at-large accomplices might raise the possibility that someone else had actually set off the bomb, muddying the prosecution's case.
THE RYDER TRUCK
The prosecution's other evidence seems strong enough that the lack of eyewitnesses may not matter much. Take the Ryder truck. No one disputes that it was used to carry the explosives--the prosecution will introduce a panel embedded with ammonium-nitrate crystals--or that it came from Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kansas. The crucial matter is tying the truck to McVeigh.
The prosecution will call Eldon Elliott, the owner of Elliott's Body Shop, a Ryder outlet in Junction City, and he will testify that a man calling himself "Robert Kling" prepaid for the truck on April 15, 1995 and picked it up on April 17. Elliott will identify "Kling" as McVeigh. Elliott will also say that in filling out the rental agreement, McVeigh used a South Dakota driver's license. Lori Fortier, Michael's wife, will testify that she made the license for McVeigh. An employee at Elliott's, Vicki Beemer, may also be called; she says she spoke to McVeigh on the 14th, when he called to reserve the truck, and saw him when he came into the shop.
According to Beemer, the phone call came at around 10:30 a.m., and there is reason to believe McVeigh made it. At around that time, he was at a Firestone tire store in Junction City, buying the Mercury from Tom Manning, the store's manager (McVeigh traded in his dilapidated Pontiac). Manning has stated that McVeigh left the store for a few minutes while they were making the deal. Records show that at 9:53 a call to Elliott's was placed from a pay phone across from the Firestone store. Another piece of evidence shows that McVeigh was near Elliott's shortly before the truck was picked up--a security camera recorded McVeigh at a McDonald's a mile from the shop.