P: You’re listening to Uncovered: Missing All the Signs. I’m Paxson Haws and when we left off in Episode One, Joel Henry Hinrichs had just detonated a self-made bomb outside of a packed Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, killing himself but no others. We’ll pick back up as the FBI began to search into Joel’s life.
At 3:30 a.m. Oct. 2, eight hours after the bomb went off, FBI officials arrived at Joel’s apartment. An hour later, the special agent bomb technician from the Oklahoma City office arrived on scene.
When the bomb technician navigated through the small apartment and entered Joel's room, the strong smell of a chemical consistent with peroxide-based explosives lingered in the air.
The room was filled with material used to create and prepare high explosives. Joel had firecrackers dipped in Triacetone Triperoxide — a self-made explosive created by combining acetone and hydrogen peroxide — numerous mixing bowls, a thermometer, a Crock-Pot, circuit boards and various piles of a white powder.
On the desk sat Joel’s laptop — still on and in screensaver mode — with one final message typed out in the middle of a document, waiting to be read.
“F--- all this. None of you are worth living with. You can all kiss my ass.”
In just under 24 hours, investigators had finished searching Joel’s room and the common area in the apartment.
In the Monday edition of The Oklahoman, the state's largest newspaper, ran a story headlined "Bomb material found in student's apartment.' It included minimal details about the material found at 506B Sooner Drive. The only detail officials released was bomb technicians would be removing a “cache of explosive material” and were overheard telling neighbors the removal could take 24 hours.
On Wednesday, The Oklahoman reported Joel had raised the suspicions of a Norman Police officer at Ellison Feed & Seed just three days before his death.
An off-duty officer witnessed a man in a white shirt, jeans and a green vest with numerous pockets attempt to purchase a known explosive material.
He filed an intelligence report when he returned to work the following Monday — about 36 hours after Joel had detonated the bomb.
The owner of the store identified Joel as a customer who raised concerns and said he was attempting to purchase ammonium nitrate, the same fertilizer Timothy McVeigh used just 10 years earlier. McVeigh constructed and detonated the homemade bomb responsible for 168 deaths in Oklahoma City at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.
As agents worked to grasp the real story and motivations behind Joel's attack, the public began circulating its own rumors and theories.
Scooby Axson, former OU Daily crime reporter, recalls the atmosphere in Norman as details were released.
Recording of Scooby: This was the talk of, of everybody. Everybody had their conspiracy theories and things like that.
P: While it had been 10 years since the Oklahoma City bombing, it was just four years since 9/11. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost when 19 terrorists hijacked four flights — two of them crashing into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon, resulting in the deadliest attack on U.S. soil. A new sense of fear rippled through the nation and lingered for years, making any hint of terrorism revive the feelings felt on that tragic day in September, 2001.
Jeff Lawrence, an OU fan who attended the Oct. 1 game, understood the anxiety many Sooner fans felt.
Recording of Jeff Lawrence: It was a 2005, you know, four years removed from September 11. And, of course, everybody's suspicions and anxiety are still, you know, a little high.
P: With the limited information released by officials, people were on edge. Was Joel acting alone? Would there be more incidents? What were his motivations? What pushed him to be angry enough at the world to end his life this way?
Jenny Clemons, who attended the Kansas State game with her veteran husband, believes Joel intended to hurt more than himself.
Recording of Jenny Clemons: It was scary. A scary experience, especially when you know, I found out that it was a suicide bomber just outside the stadium. I'm like, ‘Wow is there going to be more attacks?’ It was very scary.
P: Many felt the same way as Clemons and, while the investigation dragged on, the theories spread.
So here’s how most of the theories went.
Joel’s apartment was three blocks south of the two houses used as a mosque for those who follow the Muslim religion, and he passed those houses during every trip he made to campus. He once had a beard and lived with a Pakistani roommate. These details led some to speculate he was part of an Islamic terrorism conspiracy.
Soon, national media outlets came to town.
Recording of Scooby: That's why CNN showed up in town, because there was rumors that he was, you know, a member of a mosque or a member of a terror organization.
P: Earlier that year, Joel had responded to a roommate advertisement from Fazal Cheema, an OU student from Pakistan.
Cheema spoke to The Daily through Facebook Messenger due to the hearing implants he’s had since birth.
Cheema said he was portrayed negatively by the media and public. Some theorized Cheema was a jihadi who brainwashed Joel and turned him into a potential Muslim terrorist. He said some went so far as to suggest his hearing implants were a result of an explosion he helped Joel with.
Cheema said the reality was he barely knew his roommate. Joel kept to himself, and their communication never extended past a “hello” when their paths crossed.
He didn’t know Joel had explosives in his bedroom. And Cheema didn’t believe in any religion at the time. But Joel’s dad said people would believe what they wanted about his son.
Recording of Joel Jr.: I find out later that he — his roommate is Pakistani and Muslim, and they live near a mosque and the mosque is on the way to the campus, which leads people to put two and two together and come up as 222.
P: Axson, The Daily’s crime reporter, was aware of these rumors as he covered the case but did not put much weight into them.
Recording of Scooby: We had heard stuff like that, but we're not going to print that in a paper unless we could. We went to the mosque, they never heard of this guy. This is a 21-year-old white guy from Colorado.
P: The investigation was in full force the day after the explosion and it was in the FBI’s hands to determine what happened and answer everyone's question: Who was Joel Henry Hinrichs?
Next time on Uncovered…
Recording of Joel Jr: I had let him down. I had abandoned him. So that just closed the door.
Recording of Joel Jr: He drags that to school and says, I'm going to show everybody how to make a bomb
