Forensic Files - Season 6, Episode 17 - Line of Fire - Full Episode | Forensic Files

no one was joking in spokane washington on april fool's day 1996. first a bomb went off outside the office
of a local newspaper then another inside a bank two armed men entered and robbed the
bank of fifty thousand dollars it was apparently the work of well-trained criminals
but one of the bombers made a crucial mistake a simple pair of jeans he was wearing
that day would later reveal his identity [Music] nestled at the falls of the spokane
river the city of spokane washington is the cultural and economic center of an area known as the inland northwest which
includes parts of washington idaho montana and oregon [Music] the region is known for its beautiful
countryside and for being home to many right-wing groups openly hostile to the government
of the united states at 2 36 on the afternoon of april 1 1996 one of these groups made its presence
known in spokane an employee at a branch office of the local newspaper the spokesman review
noticed a bomb with a lighted fuse just outside the building's rear door as he ran inside to call police the bomb
exploded shredding doors shattering windows and filling the building with smoke as employees fled the building police
rushed to the scene they found extensive damage but no one was injured at 2 47 just 11 minutes after the
spokesman review bombing police got another call there had been another explosion this
time inside a u.s bank branch only 30 blocks away bank surveillance cameras showed two men
entering the bank witnesses said a third man waited outside in a getaway van the men inside the bank wore parkas and
ski masks to hide their identities they were heavily armed at gunpoint they ordered tellers to put
money in bags after that occurred and they got apparently the money that they believed was available
one of the robbers left a pipe bomb on the counter of the bank and lit it and then
told everybody to evacuate the bank that i think the comment was made by one of the witnesses that they said get out
it's going to blow or something similar to that the bomb seen in this surveillance shot exploded
it tore through the building shattering windows counters and doors again amazingly no one was hurt
if the teller had been standing there she could have been killed or severely injured
and people inside the bank could have been severely injured from the shrapnel as it flew
investigators were now connecting the two bombings since the blast came so close together
police were convinced the first bomb was a diversion designed to draw attention away from the bank robbery
it was clearly a well-planned and well-executed crime these people really knew what they were
doing and also there was no question when they went inside that bank these were not amateurs
they had planned this letters left behind at both bombings left no doubt that they were related the
letters which promised more violence had a symbol at the bottom a combination of the letter p
and the cross it was the symbol of the phineas priesthood a highly armed extremely violent
right-wing terrorist group that had declared a holy war against the united states government
[Music] two bombings on the same day in spokane washington left massive damage and the
community that feared there would be more violence to come as bomb experts dug through the rubble
they found letters the bombers had purposely left behind to experts on domestic terrorism the
letters spoke volumes they contained symbols that identified the bombers as members of the phineas
priesthood the priesthood's creed is an unusual combination of biblical prophecy and
violence a radical right-wing view of america combined with a strictly conservative interpretation of scripture
the result a fanatical hatred of government and the rationale for violence they want to destroy america to save it
they don't believe in reforming america they believe that the whole system is rotten and needs to be basically torn
down so that we can start over again [Music] david nyworth studied the phineas priesthood for his book
in god's country he says the group takes its name from an old testament story about a man named
phineas who kills an interracial couple the essence of the phineas priesthood is
that people who violate god's laws deserve to be killed news that the priesthood had targeted
spokane terrified the city and had everyone including law enforcement preparing for the worst
this was the most serious crime probably that's ever happened in spokane from a danger to the entire community obviously
you have serial murders and a lot of murder cases and so on but this case had you know people
in fear they were terrorized [Music] police now knew the name of the group but not the names of the bombers
fbi analysts went over images from the bank surveillance cameras the images were shot once every second
making for a disconnected sequence but when frozen and enlarged the individual images were
extraordinarily clear these pictures were some of the best that i've ever seen in the laboratory because they were
high quality 35 millimeter black and white photographs and the individual in question was
standing so close to the camera that he filled a large part of the frame vorder brugie an fbi photograph analyst
attempted to measure the bomber's height he used a process known as perspective analysis in which the tiles on the
bank's floor the position of the surveillance camera and the height of the teller counters
were all used to measure the dimensions of everything in the image analysts concluded the robber was
approximately five feet six and a half inches tall this information was relayed to officers
in spokane but then on july 12th just three months after the first attack there was another
bombing this time the target was this planned parenthood clinic witnesses said they saw two men in
ponchos throw a lighted pipe bomb in the clinic's front door before driving away
[Music] this particular one was covered with a buckshot to produce more shrapnel apparently in a in an
effort to make it even more deadly or devastating than it uh it would normally have been
the bomb tore through the clinic and was clearly designed to kill only luck kept it from claiming lives
nobody was hurt it was unbelievable there was nobody there had they been they would have been hurt
people inside the planned parenthood there's no question somebody would have been killed because this bomb blew a
hole in a four inch concrete floor then just 15 minutes later the same u.s bank branch office robbed
on april fool's day was hit again almost a carbon copy of the first robbery in bombing after the bomb went off at the
planned parenthood van pulls up again at the same u.s bank on sprague avenue two robbers go in one's carrying a
25-pound propane tank the kind that we use for our barbecues with something on top
they're both armed as in the first robbery the men took over the bank and made off with 35 000
in cash they left the propane tank bomb on the floor and fled in a white van but this bomb
which was rigged with an electric taser detonating device failed to go off a matchbook left behind at the planned
parenthood bombing contained the priesthood logo it cited two biblical passages one psalm 139 contains the
verse killed the wicked a few days later the bombers sent this letter to planned parenthood it said
sorry we missed you on july 12th we'll do better next time after their branch office in spokane
washington was targeted in two separate bomb attacks u.s bank officials put up a
130 thousand dollar reward for any information on members of the phineas priesthood the group that claimed
responsibility for the attacks meanwhile analysts examined the pipe bomb that nearly destroyed spokane's
planned parenthood clinic that bomb caused unbelievable damage to the planned parenthood the director of
planned parenthood from new york came out and said this was the worst bombing that had ever happened of a planned
parenthood clinic the bomb was wrapped with buckshot this made it more deadly but also more
identifiable most buckshot is made from recycled car batteries which makes for a lot of
impurities all of which can be identified fbi analyst kathleen lundy took shavings
from the buckshot found at the bomb site these shavings are dissolved in a neutral chemical solution
this solution is then vaporized at extremely high temperatures the rate of vaporization is then fed to
a computer which identifies the buckshot's basic chemical components compared to my years of experience
the buckshot in this case had extremely high levels of these impurities and the chemical or elemental makeup of this
buckshot was i'd say distinctive compared to others that i've analyzed if this buckshot could be traced
investigators might get a lead on the bomber's identities but then a solid lead came from informants
anxious to receive the reward one of the people that the phineas priests or that this gang of
people had tried to recruit uh into their gang decided that he wanted that money and
contacted authorities and and pointed out the men to them the informant identified three men
vern j morrell robert berry and charles barbie all living in sand point idaho the informant had one more piece of
information the trio was planning their next bank hit for october 8th the target
a u.s bank branch in portland oregon the fbi immediately began background checks and surveillance on the three men
they found that morel 51 trained as a nuclear engineer left his career and moved to idaho to devote all his time to
the phineas priesthood barry 42 owned a struggling truck repair shop and spent most of his time and
money on anti-government activities barbie 44 had quit his job at atnt years earlier
investigators suspected he might be the bomber in this surveillance image records indicated barbie was five feet
six and five-eighths inches tall fractions away from analysts estimate of the bomber's actual height
on october 8th the men who were being watched by investigators using long distance surveillance equipment loaded
their vehicle with automatic rifles and grenade launchers and left for portland before the trio arrived in portland
fbi officials called the u.s bank branch and told them to lock their doors agents watched as the trio waited
outside the bank in their van they saw people going up to the doors shaking the doors
but nobody was getting in so the the bank got a phone call that said are you open
and they said no we assume it was from a cell phone inside the vehicle stymied in their plans the men drove
away agents followed them in the air and on the ground and when the men stopped for gas in
yakima washington police swooped in for the arrest they would have been prepared for
anything had we tried to stop them on the highway and they were going to have a shootout
somebody would have died no doubt in my mind agents searched the suspect's homes
in verne morrell's home they found a hewlett packard inkjet color printer consistent with the one that printed the
letter sent to the planned parenthood clinic in robert berry's truck repair business
they found what appeared to be the same buckshot used in the planned parenthood bombing
and in the home of the third suspect charles barbie investigators found something that the fbi analyst told them
to be on the lookout for an unusual piece of evidence a deeply worn pair of blue jeans
after the arrest of three men in the spokane bombings and robberies investigators look for conclusive
evidence to tie them to the crimes the buckshot found in robert berry's truck repair business was subjected to
the same analysis as buckshot attached to the bomb that destroyed spokane's planned parenthood clinic
chemically i couldn't tell the buckshot recovered from the bombing apart from the buckshot recovered from the business
they were chemically the same but prosecutors wanted something even more conclusive was there a way to use the
bank surveillance images to clearly identify at least one of the robbers was it possible that these two images
which were particularly clear were the suspect charles barbie the robber was covered head to toe but
his blue jeans were clearly identifiable almost all blue jeans are made of white
cotton that is then dyed blue how that blue dye wears off particularly on the seams can be distinctive
a sort of hill and valley effect is created high parts of the seam turn white while the lower parts retain their color
the fit of the genes and the posture of the person wearing them can create unique patterns almost like a bar code
that appears along these seams fbi photograph analyst richard vorder brookie had an agent of barbie's height
where the genes taken from charles barbie's home this man was photographed from the same
distance and in the same position as the bank surveillance photo of the man thought to be
charles barbie it enables me to get them positioned in a way that most closely approximates what the bank robber's
posture was it also enables me to to try and replicate the draping of the clothing as closely as possible
in a process called point by point analysis the photos are broken down into sections and each section is analyzed
for distinctive features then the two sets of photos those showing the genes worn by the bank
robber and those taken from the suspect's home are compared the analysis showed more than 30 areas
where the jeans were identical near the number five it is clear the actual seam of the jeans
breaks and is folded over this is clear in both sets of photos [Music] at number seven
ridges can be seen extending above the hemline but at the point where the seam meets
the hemline the jeans lose all their color and go completely white this is also consistent in both photos
finally at the number two you can see where a line shooting off to the left above the hemline and at the
hem a sort of h pattern is created it's an h with a broad right side and a thin left side
the same h pattern can be seen in jeans taken from charles barbie's home in this case because i was able to
positively identify those pants i could get on the stand and say those pants were the ones worn by the
bank robber i can't tell you who the bank robber was and so it's very strong circumstantial
evidence barbie couldn't have known it but the genes he wore during the first bank
robbery helped identify him and his fellow bombers in march of 1997 the trio went on trial
over 500 items were entered into evidence but the proceedings resulted in a mistrial
it was later found that one of the jurors was sympathetic to the phineas priesthood's anti-government beliefs
but at the second trial three months later the jury returned guilty verdicts and vern morell
charles barbie and robert berry were given mandatory life terms they claimed to the end
that the trial was political but investigators disagreed and to prove it they were able to present a well-worn
pair of blue jeans the same pair of blue jeans that were worn during the bank robbery
i thought the fbi lab did an excellent job um by being able to come up and compare
those to the photograph and identify them positively as the genes the blank robber wore
and that's the only time i ever knew it to have been done it may have done some other case someplace but i'm not aware
of it that was pretty amazing they were basically robbers they wanted the money they're criminals
they didn't believe in our government that's true they didn't believe in abortion and that's true they didn't
believe in banks that's true but they're common criminals they did these to get money
[Music] [Music] you

In 1996, when a fundamentalist group starts attacking and robbing banks in the Spokane, WA area, authorities know immediately that they are dealing with experienced criminals.

Forensic Files is the longest-running true crime series in television history. Evidence and interviews with experts help solve real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world.

Brief Summary

The episode details the 1996 Spokane bombings by the Phineas Priesthood and the investigation that led to the suspects' arrest and conviction.

Key points

April Fool's Day Bombings. On April 1, 1996, Spokane experienced a series of bombings and a bank robbery.
Phineas Priesthood's Threat. The bombers were linked to a violent right-wing group with a radical ideology.
Planned Parenthood Bombing. A bomb targeted a Planned Parenthood clinic, causing significant damage but no injuries.
Criminals with a Cause. The suspects were motivated by anti-government beliefs, but primarily sought money.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

No one was joking in Spokane, Washington.

0:06WatchNov 24, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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