Forensic Files (HD) - Season 13, Episode 27 - Holy Terror - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] up next an explosion rips through an illinois church the town was terrified evidence was
everywhere we found evidence on top of buildings the debris field was huge two teenagers implicate one another
dungeons and dragons looks like the cause i thought that was an incredibly stupid thing to do
but a thin blue wire tells a different story [Music] oakwood illinois is a quiet small town
of less than a thousand residents and little if any violent crime at the oakwood methodist church as
volunteers prepared for their christmas celebration church member brian plower walked
outside where something caught his attention [Music] some of us thought that maybe a vehicle
had driven into the church we got there right after the first responders did and
their first reaction was that it was a gas explosion 46 year old brian plower was killed
instantly he left behind a wife and three children very charismatic gregarious uh
brian never met anybody he didn't like bill adams's daughter walked out just moments before the explosion
it is by pure chance that it could have been my daughter you know i've often thought that brian
took what could have happened to my daughter agents from the bureau of alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives
were called in to investigate we found metal fragmentation we found pieces of pipe nipple we picked up any pieces of
wire we found batteries we did find some nine volt batteries we picked up everything this clearly eliminated a gas
line explosion these were the ingredients of a pipe bomb a homemade device in which
gunpowder is packed into a steel pipe closed with metal end caps in this case fragments of red painted
end caps were found in the rubble along with 30 gauge blue insulated silver coated copper wire this was not very
common wire it could be a particular signature of the bomber a signature is something
unusual or unique left by the bomber often without knowing it we actually found a piece of green plastic that had
a label on it that said igloo legend 12 which is a cooler this meant the pipe bomb was inside the
cooler activated with the trip wire investigators did not believe that the victim
was the intended target it was very apparent to us that this was very random there was nothing in mr plower's
background to indicate him being the target of a crime after some digging investigators learned
two important pieces of information first the only store within 25 miles that sold 30 gauge blue insulated silver
coated copper wire was the local radio shack electronics store since only one merchandiser sold that
wire if they kept records of their transactions that that could prove helpful in getting a lead and
there was only one store that sold the igloo brand legend 12 cooler we found out that
that color scheme was only sold at walmart so that narrowed our focus then on where
that cooler could have been purchased then investigators got an anonymous tip that two students at oakwood high school
might have been involved one of them had a past criminal history with one of the offenses being arson one
of the subjects had been seen in possession of a notebook that had handwritten on the
front of it bomb recipes the teenagers 18 year old jimmy morris and 16 year old phil ryan had no alibis
for the time of the bombing at first they said that they were driving past the scene when the
explosion happened then they said that they were there within moments and saw brian plower in
the moments just before the explosion from a photo lineup employees at the local radio shack store identified
jimmy morris as having been in their store but couldn't recall what he purchased
everything that the investigation showed about the teenagers indicated that they could be involved in
this investigators also learned that the boys were heavily involved in the game dungeons and dragons a fantasy-oriented
game played by more than 20 million people worldwide it allows participants to assume
imaginary often violent identities there had been across the country instances where the role playing
within the game of dungeons and dragons had turned violent in real life teenagers denied
involvement in the bombing and were given polygraphs the polygraph indicated that they
were giving some deceptive answers uh when questioned about bombs and bomb making eventually
they each implicated the other both subjects stated that they saw the other subject
in possession of a green cooler it looked like investigators had solved the case
until there was another bombing just five miles away [Music] the first assembly of god church in
danville illinois was located five miles away from the location of the first bombing
[Music] the blast injured 33 people most of them teenagers injured in the church bombing may never
recover emotionally this second bombing was more powerful than the first when we first arrived on the scene we
were in shock there was a hole in the west wall that was big enough to drive a truck through
it was unbelievable the explosion happened next to the pews where a church youth group was sitting
33 people were injured they had shrapnel that had been embedded in their face some in their ears this was
just an explosion of such a powerful magnitude that debris rained down on them which is
something that you don't see every day involved two churches you don't see a lot of crime against churches
the atf looked everywhere for pieces of the explosive device we found evidence on top of buildings
everywhere it was just the debris field was huge eventually atf investigators found
more than 20 different bomb components which enabled them to build a replica this one was triggered with a timer and
was clearly larger and more powerful than the first there were a lot of differences there
which leaves you with two alternatives either is experimenting graduating up to bigger and better things the other
alternative is it was two separate people that made these devices to find out forensic examiners looked at
the wire from the second bomb site was this the same signature wire used in the first bond it was a
silver coated single strand copper wire with blue insulation it's 30 gauge it's very very small wire but was it
the same wire atf examiner greg cleese examined the extrusion marks made on the plastic insulation as it squeezed
through the die during the manufacturing process this process makes the wire its uniform size those marks will be
imported on the on that plastic insulation for a number of feet before it changes
dramatically lined up on a comparison microscope there was no doubt the wire from both bomb sites came
from the same source in fact that these were produced on the same forming die at the same
plant they also discovered both bombs used the same glue and the same cotton string
[Music] since both bombs appeared to be made by the same individual this eliminated jimmy morris and phil
ryan they both had solid alibis for the second bombing but why did these boys implicate
themselves in the first place they offered an explanation that they were doing this because they
were playing this dungeons and dragons game they really spent a lot of time wasting
the time of investigators i thought that was an incredibly stupid thing to do then a witness came forward saying she'd
seen a white male walking a german shepherd dog near the church parking lot a few hours
before the first bombing she remembered the dog had a brown leather collar with a brass name tag on
it but she couldn't provide a description of the man was this the break investigators needed
after two high school students were eliminated as suspects the atf continued to search for leads
they suspected that the blue copper wire was purchased at the local radio shack store
unfortunately most customers who bought this wire paid cash so this was a dead end
the pipe had been inside a plastic cooler sold only in walmart stores of the hundreds sold
only three were purchased with a credit card or check those individuals were interviewed and
cleared it was a dead end we were unable to associate that cooler with anyone that
could be considered a person of interest all of the other bomb components were common and could have
been purchased anywhere but investigators needed to find the bomber before he could strike
again since his devices were getting more sophisticated we did feel that this was an escalation
it was a bigger device it happened when more people were present then a tipster came forward a member of
the church where the second bombing took place the member of the church come up said i don't know if this means much but
there was this gentleman by the name of mr white that i know and that he had actually
attended this church approximately five to six years prior and it seeked actually getting into the
church as a member and had been turned down forty-year-old richard white lived just 12 miles away from the church
with his mother and his teenage daughter we also start interviewing everyone that
knows mr white friends family everyone we were told by a lot of the neighbors that richard dean white was somebody
that you didn't want to mess with a background check revealed a troubled past white was a high school dropout and
spent time in the u.s army but was discharged after only six weeks later he spent time in four different
psychiatric hospitals where he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic i believe
that he was completely confused at one time he felt that there was demons underneath the floor in the
bathroom and he cut the bathroom floor out to get the demons out of there eventually white got married and landed
a job with general motors his marriage ended after just six months and he was laid off from his job in
1987. he had such a hard time becoming involved back in the community he lost his job
he wasn't able to retain friends or any relationships and really was forced to move back home with his mother
white's psychiatric problems may have been the reason why the danville church rejected his
application for membership there has to be an agreement between the board and because of some of the things that
happened that was contributed to him we didn't think that that would be quite what we wanted at that particular time
investigators also learned that rick's ex-wife was a member of the oakwood united methodist
church where the first bombing took place i felt like that that was what he was trying to strike out against her and get
even with her at the time that that happened that was purely speculation on my part i have no
idea then four days after the second church bombing before investigators could interview
rick white there was another bombing this time in a residential neighborhood several miles away bomb number three
what are we gonna do now [Music] after two bombings and five months of investigation
the atf finally had a potential suspect in rick white a background check revealed
white had a history of psychiatric problems i don't know that he had problems making
friends i just don't think rick wanted friends his dog was his friend and so that
satisfied rick [Music] so investigators decided to pay white a visit they asked rick white's mother
investigators found the garage behind the white's home in ruins i could see steam
smoke when the explosion went off and actually pushed the walls out like actually see into the building itself
and there was one victim inside the building along with a dog a large dog the victim had been
decapitated a driver's license found on the workbench identified him as richard white
we did not know if we had a victim or a suspect but that question was answered as
investigators sifted through the rubble there were parts of bombs in there in the process of being made
and tools wiring all kinds of things that you could use to make pipe bombs circumstantial evidence would indicate
that he intended to kill himself to avoid having to talk to the police next to white's body was his german
shepherd dog it matched the description of the dog given by the witness near the first bomb site he was obviously
clutching the bomb close to his body and he had his one friend in the world there
with him his other arm around his dog also in the garage investigators found blue silver coated wire
the kind used in the two church bombings they also found a pair of wire cutters scientists compared the tool marks from
white's wire cutters to the tool marks on the copper wire found at the danville bomb site
from that comparison i was able to conclude that this diagonal cutter that they've
recovered in richard white's garage was in fact the dial cutter that cut that wire end that was found on the
dandel device this was forensic proof that white was the bomber we found an area of
the garage that had red spray paint on it and contained on that red spray paint were
perfectly round circles the reason that was important was the device that killed mr plower which was a pipe
bomb with end caps on it those end caps were painted red with a gold coating but questions remained why
did rick white target churches investigators believe white was angry at the first assembly of god church for
turning down his membership application but he couldn't bomb that church at least
not right away it would have been too obvious so he chose the oakwood united methodist
church as his first target possibly because his ex-wife was a member he was experimenting
he was trying to get different things to work different initiators for the device different
triggering systems the forensic evidence shows that white placed the pipe bomb in a green cooler not caring who
would pick it up church member brian plower was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time
[Music] in the first assembly of god church bombing white used a stronger bomb since this was his
primary target he placed the bomb on top of an outdoor air conditioner this one had a timer designed to explode
during the sunday service 33 people were injured we were in absolute shock just like the
people in the community that no one had been killed in october of 1998 a grand jury
concluded richard white built both bombs and murdered brian plower the forensic evidence left no doubt
these investigations did not result in the prosecution it was closure for the victim's family
richard white did this we know that he did it it doesn't really you know answer those questions
why it doesn't uh make the hurt less you know there's still pain there's still you know anger there's still hurt
and and loss and grief that continues and continues and continues with the bombing the misconception is
the blast destroys the evidence the blast disperses the evidence where it makes it harder for us to find it but
we'll find it

This episode documents a deadly bombing at a church in Oakwood, Illinois, in December 1997.

Brief Summary

The episode details the investigation of two church bombings in Illinois, leading to Richard White as the bomber.

Key points

Explosion in Oakwood, Illinois. An explosion devastates a small town church, leaving one dead and many injured.
Investigation Uncovers Pipe Bombs. Investigators find evidence of a homemade pipe bomb, shifting the focus of the investigation.
Second Bombing Strikes Again. A second bombing injures 33 people, raising the stakes in the investigation.
Richard White Identified as Suspect. Investigators connect Richard White to the bombings through forensic evidence.
Closure for Victims' Families. A grand jury concludes Richard White built both bombs, but questions remain.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I thought that was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Commenting on the teenagers' actions

0:19WatchMar 5, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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