Kenneth Michael Trentadue
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Michael Trentadue (b. ?, d. August 21, 1995) was an Oklahoma man who died while in federal custody during the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing
.
, and Horsepen, Virginia. In 1961, when the coal business was facing hard times, Kenneth moved with his family to Orange County, California
. In high school, despite being an accomplished athlete, Kenneth dropped out. He enlisted in the army, in which he shortly developed an addiction to heroin. He attempted employment doing factory work and carpentry, but eventually settled on bank robbery
. He was subsequently caught, and served a prison sentence of several years, being released on parole in 1988, after which he got married and tried his hand again at legitimate employment. On June 19, 1995, his first child was born.
's Federal Transfer Center
in Oklahoma City. According to prison records, three days later, at 3:02 a.m., the morning of August 21, 1995, Kenneth was found in his cell suspended from a noose made out of his bed sheets, dead.
Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy and federal officials determined that Trentadue had committed suicide by hanging himself. Officials tried to obtain the permission of Trentadue's family to cremate the body at the government's expense--an unprecedented move--but the family declined, since they found the claims of suicide suspicious. The government then performed an autopsy on Trentadue, but did not notify the family.
When the family received the body from the prison authorities, it was covered in wounds, cuts, and bruises, leading the family to believe Trentadue had been tortured and beaten before his death. Trentadue had sustained three heavy blows to the head, and his throat had been cut; prison authorities claimed the wounds were self-inflicted. The day after Trentadue's death, Kevin Rowland, the chief examiner of the Oklahoma state medical examiner
filed a complaint with the FBI reporting irregularities in the investigation of Trentadue's death: the coroner was at first not permitted into the cell where Trentadue had died, and the cell itself was washed out before any investigation could be performed. The complaint went on to state that, although the exact cause of death could not be determined, the claim that Trentadue had committed suicide was not consistent with the medical examiner's findings, and Trentadue appeared to have been tortured. The FBI paperwork from the agent who received the medical examiner's call reads "murder" and "believes that foul play is suspect[ed] in this matter."
A Board of Inquiry was convened by the Bureau of Prisons. The attorney in charge of the investigation was ordered to treat his findings as "attorney work product", a legal distinction that would protect information uncovered in his investigation from any potential lawsuit or Freedom of Information Act
inquiries.
case. After being contacted by David Hammer, a convicted murderer who had struck up a friendship with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh
on death row
, and had read about the Trentadue case in the newspapers, Jesse and others ultimately came to believe that Kenneth had been mistakenly identified by authorities as an accomplice in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. It is supposed that Trentadue was interrogated to make him talk, and died during the interrogation. After being shown a picture of Kenneth Trentadue, Timothy McVeigh is reported to have said, "Now I know why Trentadue was killed, because they thought he was Richard Guthrie."
It is contended that Trentadue was mistaken for Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., a member of the Aryan Republican Army, members of which were thought to have associated with McVeigh, and were the subject of FBI investigation. The two men shared a strong physical resemblance – they were the same height, weight, and build, both had thick mustaches, and both had dragon tattoos on their left arm. Both are thought to have resembled the description of "John Doe 2", the never-apprehended possible third conspirator in the bombing along with McVeigh and Terry Nichols
. Less than one year after Trentadue's death, Guthrie would also be found dead in his prison cell, the day before he was scheduled to give a television interview. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
In 1999, Alden Gillis Baker – an inmate who had been imprisoned in Oklahoma City's Federal Transfer Center
at the same time as Trentadue – came forward to volunteer to testify that he had witnessed Trentadue's murder. According to FBI documentation, the authenticity of which is vigorously disputed by the Department of Justice
, Baker was even sharing a cell with Trentadue on the night of his death. In December 1999, Baker reported to a lawyer that he feared for his life. In August 2000, he was found dead in his cell, a suicide by hanging.
, and in 1996 the DOJ's Civil Rights Division
was given jurisdiction over the case. It determined that a federal grand jury ought to be convened, to decide if an indictment
should be issued in Trentadue's case. The jury was convened on July 6, 1996.
Medical examiner Fred Jordan remained firm in his refusal to classify the death a suicide. Jordan told the U.S. Attorney's Office
that Trentadue had been "abused and tortured", and would even go so far as to say "the federal grand jury is part of a cover-up." To review the case, the Department of Justice consulted forensic pathologist Bill Gormley, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
. Gormley contacted Kevin Rowland, the original chief investigator assigned the case by the Oklahoma state medical examiner. In his memo of the conversation, Rowland wrote that Gormley "was troubled that the Department of Justice
only seemed interested in him saying it might be possible these injuries were self inflicted." According to Rowland, Gormley was becoming increasingly sure that Trentadue was murdered.
Nevertheless, in August 1997 the grand jury found no evidence of foul play in Trentadue's death. The FBI continued to exert pressure on Fred Jordan to rule the case a suicide. Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Patrick Crawley contacted an attorney in the Department of Justice on Jordan's behalf, telling him that the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons had "prevented the medical examiner from conducting a thorough and complete investigation into the death, destroyed evidence, and otherwise harassed and harangued Dr. Jordan and his staff." In July 1998, Jordan officially changed the listed cause of death from "unknown" to "suicide". His reversal, he said, had been based largely on the analysis of a handwriting expert of Trentadue's supposed suicide note, even though the expert had not been permitted to see the actual note.
In November 1999, a further investigation – this time by the U.S. Inspector General – released a report on its findings, stating there was no evidence to support the theory that Trentadue had been murdered, or that there had been a cover-up. The report does however note that the FBI and Bureau of Prisons had poorly conducted the investigation, and that four employees of the federal government had "made false statements" under oath in connection to the Trentadue case.
The federal government appealed the $1.1-million-dollar award, and in August 2007 the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
revoked the award and sent the case back to the judge who originally awarded the money. In 2008, after bouncing back and forth twice on appeal, the judge reinstated the award, although the Trentadue family claims Department of Justice
attorneys have told them the federal government will never pay, no matter how many judgments the family wins.
In November 2008, Kenneth Trentadue's family offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction in the case of Trentadue's death.
According to one 2008 interview, the federal government did pay a civil settlement, which is the source of the money offered as a reward.
In 2007, Jesse Trentadue requested to conduct videotaped depositions of Terry Nichols
and death-row inmate David Paul Hammer on the subject of Kenneth Trentadue's death and on the FBI's possible withholding of documents relating to Kenneth Trentadue, documents that Jesse had requested in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball granted Trentadue's request. After the FBI urged him to reconsider in September 2008, Judge Kimball reaffirmed the decision. The FBI appealed the decision, claiming the two prisoners "clearly have no knowledge regarding FBI procedures in filing and searching for records." In July 2009 the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
overturned Kimball's decision, barring Trentadue from conducting the interviews.
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
.
Early life
Kenneth Trentadue was born to a family of coal miners and raised in Number 7, a coal camp located between Cucumber, West VirginiaCucumber, West Virginia
Cucumber is an unincorporated census-designated place in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 94. It is centered around mining...
, and Horsepen, Virginia. In 1961, when the coal business was facing hard times, Kenneth moved with his family to Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
. In high school, despite being an accomplished athlete, Kenneth dropped out. He enlisted in the army, in which he shortly developed an addiction to heroin. He attempted employment doing factory work and carpentry, but eventually settled on bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
. He was subsequently caught, and served a prison sentence of several years, being released on parole in 1988, after which he got married and tried his hand again at legitimate employment. On June 19, 1995, his first child was born.
Arrest and death
Kenneth was apprehended on June 10, 1995, nearly two months after the Oklahoma City bombing, while crossing the border from Mexico into California, when police officers ran his driver's license and discovered that he was wanted for violating his parole. On August 18, Trentadue was transferred to the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
's Federal Transfer Center
Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City
The Federal Transfer Center , located on the western edge of Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is an administrative facility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that houses male and female holdover offenders....
in Oklahoma City. According to prison records, three days later, at 3:02 a.m., the morning of August 21, 1995, Kenneth was found in his cell suspended from a noose made out of his bed sheets, dead.
Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy and federal officials determined that Trentadue had committed suicide by hanging himself. Officials tried to obtain the permission of Trentadue's family to cremate the body at the government's expense--an unprecedented move--but the family declined, since they found the claims of suicide suspicious. The government then performed an autopsy on Trentadue, but did not notify the family.
When the family received the body from the prison authorities, it was covered in wounds, cuts, and bruises, leading the family to believe Trentadue had been tortured and beaten before his death. Trentadue had sustained three heavy blows to the head, and his throat had been cut; prison authorities claimed the wounds were self-inflicted. The day after Trentadue's death, Kevin Rowland, the chief examiner of the Oklahoma state medical examiner
Medical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
filed a complaint with the FBI reporting irregularities in the investigation of Trentadue's death: the coroner was at first not permitted into the cell where Trentadue had died, and the cell itself was washed out before any investigation could be performed. The complaint went on to state that, although the exact cause of death could not be determined, the claim that Trentadue had committed suicide was not consistent with the medical examiner's findings, and Trentadue appeared to have been tortured. The FBI paperwork from the agent who received the medical examiner's call reads "murder" and "believes that foul play is suspect[ed] in this matter."
A Board of Inquiry was convened by the Bureau of Prisons. The attorney in charge of the investigation was ordered to treat his findings as "attorney work product", a legal distinction that would protect information uncovered in his investigation from any potential lawsuit or Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
inquiries.
Connection to the Oklahoma City bombing
Kenneth's brother Jesse began gathering information on his brother's death, still with no knowledge of a possible connection to the Oklahoma City bombingOklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
case. After being contacted by David Hammer, a convicted murderer who had struck up a friendship with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995...
on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, and had read about the Trentadue case in the newspapers, Jesse and others ultimately came to believe that Kenneth had been mistakenly identified by authorities as an accomplice in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. It is supposed that Trentadue was interrogated to make him talk, and died during the interrogation. After being shown a picture of Kenneth Trentadue, Timothy McVeigh is reported to have said, "Now I know why Trentadue was killed, because they thought he was Richard Guthrie."
It is contended that Trentadue was mistaken for Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., a member of the Aryan Republican Army, members of which were thought to have associated with McVeigh, and were the subject of FBI investigation. The two men shared a strong physical resemblance – they were the same height, weight, and build, both had thick mustaches, and both had dragon tattoos on their left arm. Both are thought to have resembled the description of "John Doe 2", the never-apprehended possible third conspirator in the bombing along with McVeigh and Terry Nichols
Terry Nichols
Terry Lynn Nichols is a convicted bomber's accomplice. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman, ranch hand, and house husband. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the...
. Less than one year after Trentadue's death, Guthrie would also be found dead in his prison cell, the day before he was scheduled to give a television interview. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
In 1999, Alden Gillis Baker – an inmate who had been imprisoned in Oklahoma City's Federal Transfer Center
Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City
The Federal Transfer Center , located on the western edge of Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is an administrative facility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that houses male and female holdover offenders....
at the same time as Trentadue – came forward to volunteer to testify that he had witnessed Trentadue's murder. According to FBI documentation, the authenticity of which is vigorously disputed by the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, Baker was even sharing a cell with Trentadue on the night of his death. In December 1999, Baker reported to a lawyer that he feared for his life. In August 2000, he was found dead in his cell, a suicide by hanging.
Investigation
Kenneth's death was investigated by the FBI, although the agent charged with the task did not view Kenneth's cell. He did visit the prison itself, but talked with prison employees only – not inmates – and he collected no evidence for the case. For months, there was no movement on the case, but mounting complaints from the state medical examiner caught the ear of the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, and in 1996 the DOJ's Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
was given jurisdiction over the case. It determined that a federal grand jury ought to be convened, to decide if an indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
should be issued in Trentadue's case. The jury was convened on July 6, 1996.
Medical examiner Fred Jordan remained firm in his refusal to classify the death a suicide. Jordan told the U.S. Attorney's Office
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
that Trentadue had been "abused and tortured", and would even go so far as to say "the federal grand jury is part of a cover-up." To review the case, the Department of Justice consulted forensic pathologist Bill Gormley, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology was a US government institution concerned with diagnostic consultation, education, and research in the medical specialty of pathology. It was founded in 1862 as the Army Medical Museum and was located in Washington, DC on the grounds of the Walter Reed Army...
. Gormley contacted Kevin Rowland, the original chief investigator assigned the case by the Oklahoma state medical examiner. In his memo of the conversation, Rowland wrote that Gormley "was troubled that the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
only seemed interested in him saying it might be possible these injuries were self inflicted." According to Rowland, Gormley was becoming increasingly sure that Trentadue was murdered.
I think it's very likely [Trentadue] was murdered. I'm not able to prove it....You see a body covered with blood, removed from the room as Mr. Trentadue was, soaked in blood, covered with bruises, and you try to gain access to the scene, and the government of the United States says no, you can't.... At that point we have no crime scene, so there are still questions about the death of Kenneth Trentadue that will never be answered because of the actions of the U.S. government. Whether those actions were intentional—whether they were incompetence, I don't know.... It was botched. Or, worse, it was planned.
--Fred Jordan, medical examiner, television interview
Nevertheless, in August 1997 the grand jury found no evidence of foul play in Trentadue's death. The FBI continued to exert pressure on Fred Jordan to rule the case a suicide. Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Patrick Crawley contacted an attorney in the Department of Justice on Jordan's behalf, telling him that the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons had "prevented the medical examiner from conducting a thorough and complete investigation into the death, destroyed evidence, and otherwise harassed and harangued Dr. Jordan and his staff." In July 1998, Jordan officially changed the listed cause of death from "unknown" to "suicide". His reversal, he said, had been based largely on the analysis of a handwriting expert of Trentadue's supposed suicide note, even though the expert had not been permitted to see the actual note.
In November 1999, a further investigation – this time by the U.S. Inspector General – released a report on its findings, stating there was no evidence to support the theory that Trentadue had been murdered, or that there had been a cover-up. The report does however note that the FBI and Bureau of Prisons had poorly conducted the investigation, and that four employees of the federal government had "made false statements" under oath in connection to the Trentadue case.
Civil suit and other legal action
The Trentadue family filed a wrongful death suit against the federal government, and were awarded a judgment of $1.1 million dollars for their emotional distress associated with the way the federal government handled the case.The federal government appealed the $1.1-million-dollar award, and in August 2007 the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Colorado* District of Kansas...
revoked the award and sent the case back to the judge who originally awarded the money. In 2008, after bouncing back and forth twice on appeal, the judge reinstated the award, although the Trentadue family claims Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
attorneys have told them the federal government will never pay, no matter how many judgments the family wins.
In November 2008, Kenneth Trentadue's family offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction in the case of Trentadue's death.
According to one 2008 interview, the federal government did pay a civil settlement, which is the source of the money offered as a reward.
In 2007, Jesse Trentadue requested to conduct videotaped depositions of Terry Nichols
Terry Nichols
Terry Lynn Nichols is a convicted bomber's accomplice. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman, ranch hand, and house husband. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the...
and death-row inmate David Paul Hammer on the subject of Kenneth Trentadue's death and on the FBI's possible withholding of documents relating to Kenneth Trentadue, documents that Jesse had requested in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball granted Trentadue's request. After the FBI urged him to reconsider in September 2008, Judge Kimball reaffirmed the decision. The FBI appealed the decision, claiming the two prisoners "clearly have no knowledge regarding FBI procedures in filing and searching for records." In July 2009 the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Colorado* District of Kansas...
overturned Kimball's decision, barring Trentadue from conducting the interviews.
External links
- http://www.kennethtrentadue.com/ - Photographs of Kenneth Trentadue, and links relating to his death.
- FBI documents relating to the Kenneth Trentadue case.