Search Narrows for Bomb Suspect : Manhunt: A new sketch is released of ‘John Doe No. 2,’ believed to be an accomplice in the Oklahoma City explosion. White Thunderbird leads to two names.

Authorities here released yet another sketch Monday of the elusive second suspect in the federal office building bombing and a source said that the expanding manhunt is narrowing in on a man some investigators believe may be “John Doe No. 2.”

Officially, FBI agents said that they have pursued more than 13,000 leads and received more than 7 million pieces of information in the national dragnet for a man believed to have taken part in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

And yet, said FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Weldon Kennedy, “we are still attempting to identify and locate John Doe No. 2.”

But a source close to the investigation said that authorities actually were close Monday to naming the suspect. They decided against doing that, however, until they are absolutely certain he is their man and not another false lead like the ones that have exasperated investigators since the April 19 explosion.

The source characterized the latest candidate as John Doe No. 2 as one of two men who travel regularly between Oklahoma City and Kingman, Ariz., where Timothy J. McVeigh--the only suspect charged with the bombing--once lived. Federal agents have set up a second command post there in their widening investigation.

To find the two men, officials put out a six-state vehicle alert for a white 1981 Thunderbird with Arizona tags that was seen on a surveillance camera near the bombing site, several police sources said. The men were identified by police sources as Gary Allen Land and Robert Jacks.

Tom Crafton, operator of Deward and Pauline’s Motel in Vinita, Okla., told The Times that two men in a white Thunderbird and fitting the description of Land and Jacks paid cash for five nights in Room 127 of his motel beginning April 19--the night of the bombing.

He said that FBI agents have searched and fingerprinted the room. They also took the room’s registration records.

Crafton recalled that he joked with one of the men, telling him that he looked like John Doe No. 2. “I just saw your picture on television,” Crafton said he told the man. “He just grinned.”

Crafton did not take the resemblance seriously, and he had not contacted authorities when FBI agents swooped down on his motel Saturday night.

Edna Mendez, who answered the phone at Jacks’ home in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, said that he works for the Loomis armored car service. He made a delivery in downtown Oklahoma City minutes before the bombing, she said.

She said that Jacks also voluntarily contacted the FBI to report seeing a “Ryder truck.”

Attempts to contact Land or his family were unsucessful.

In Kingman, Bill Terranova, owner of the El Trovatore Motel, said that Land and Jacks stayed there for five months, Nov. 3 to April 3. But he does not believe either matches the picture of John Doe No. 2.

Officially, Kennedy would make only this comment about the white Thunderbird and its occupants: “That is one of hundreds of leads, one of thousands of leads, we are pursuing. We are attempting to locate that automobile and the individuals contained in it.”

The latest development is one in a string of reported sightings and FBI raids that so far has only frustrated investigators. The dead-ends have come from as far as Southern California and Georgia.

“Even though it’s taking some time, we’re not giving up hope,” said Oklahoma City Police Chief Sam Gonzales, who is sitting in on daily briefings with federal investigators. “It’s frustrating at times, but that’s understandable.”

He said that investigators are starting with McVeigh and “working backwards” by researching his movements, his Army buddies and other associates. He said that with 13,000 calls, Doe No. 2’s name may already have been given to authorities.

“But maybe we just don’t know that yet,” Gonzales said.

Multiple theories abound about where Doe No. 2 might be:

* He is in hiding, perhaps in a mountainous area in the Northwest. One Secret Service agent said that federal officials are closely monitoring small “cells” of anti-government extremists in an attempt to flush him out if he is among them. They also hope that the $2-million reward might lure some member of a local militia or other group to come forward with information.

* He has fled the country. Federal officials are monitoring the border and pursuing other leads abroad. “There have been alerts placed for No. 2, and there’s been extensive media coverage in Europe on this John Doe No. 2,” said Kennedy.

* He is dead. Although this is considered the least likely theory, some investigators think that Doe No. 2 might have been unable to get away fast enough and could have been killed in the blast. Others say it is possible that he has been murdered by other conspirators who wanted to keep him from falling into the government’s hands as a potential witness against them.

Regardless of who and where he is or is not, a lot is riding on his capture for the nation’s law enforcement community. After the swift arrest of McVeigh, public anxiety is growing over whether the second suspect will be found, some sources said.

“There is no other case like this,” said an Oklahoma City police intelligence officer who is working alongside federal investigators.

“After a while, we may be left hoping that he will screw up along the way somewhere and give himself away.”

He said that authorities are extremely reluctant to “cut a deal” with McVeigh to learn more about his alleged accomplice. “The bottom line is that it is up to us to find him.”

With the mystery surrounding the unknown suspect, federal officials have revealed little of what they may know about Doe No. 2.

An initial composite sketch showed him as of medium build, 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10, 175 to 180 pounds, with brown hair and a tattoo on his left arm below his T-shirt sleeve. “He is possibly a smoker,” the FBI description said.

A week later, a second composite was released. But this one was virtually the same drawing except for a baseball cap on his head.

The third sketch released Monday is a profile. It shows him again with the baseball cap. Kennedy added that the man is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s, is very tanned and muscular and may be a weightlifter.

“We have not interviewed anyone to our knowledge who has personal knowledge of this individual,” he said.

And as he has said repeatedly, Kennedy added: “This individual should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.”

Beyond that, the suspect officially has surfaced in only two incidents leading up to the bombing.

The first was on April 17, when the FBI believes that McVeigh and his compatriot rented a yellow Ryder truck in Junction City, Kan. But according to interviews and federal court records, it was McVeigh--and not his companion--who allegedly signed a phony name to the rental agreement.

In a pretrial hearing for McVeigh Thursday, FBI Agent Jon Hersley gave this account of Doe No. 2:

“He is the one that brought (McVeigh) . . . to the rental location and was there while (McVeigh) . . . was getting the paperwork completed and actually renting the truck.”

John W. Coyle III, McVeigh’s defense attorney, asked at the hearing what Doe No. 2 was doing at the rental agency.

“I believe he was just standing in the office there,” Hersley said.

“Was he standing close and assisting in the rental?” Coyle asked. “Did he give money? Did he do anything active that you have been advised of during that time?”

“I don’t believe so, no.”

The second sighting came moments before the 9:02 a.m. explosion.

According to Hersley’s testimony, a witness saw McVeigh’s Mercury Marquis hurrying through a downtown alley going away from the federal building.

Times staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow and David Willman in Washington and Bettina Boxall in Kingman, Ariz., contributed to this story.