Investigators for McVeigh Examine Site of Bombing

Investigators working for bombing suspect Timothy J. McVeigh examined portions of the devastated Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on Saturday, just days before the building is to be demolished.

Wearing gray hard hats, an explosives expert, an architect and a camera crew hired by the defense moved through the ruins of the building, occasionally peering into the rubble through gaping holes in the walls.

McVeigh’s lawyer, Stephen Jones, said the inspection was “mainly for preservation and understanding the dynamics of the bomb.”

“I doubt there’s anything left in the building of evidentiary value,” he said. “All we can get from this is to understand the physics of the explosion: Where did it come from? How far did the damage go?”

An agreement with federal prosecutors gave Jones until midnight tonight to complete his investigation of the April 19 explosion site. The site is to be demolished early Tuesday with a dynamite blast.

McVeigh and an Army friend, Terry L. Nichols, are the only two people charged in the fuel-and-fertilizer bomb blast that killed 167 people on April 19 and injured hundreds more.

People toting children, dogs and video cameras continued to swarm the site. Many said they came to get a glimpse of the building before it is demolished.

“I’ll be glad to see it come down, so people can get on with their lives,” onlooker Linda Osterberger said.

In other developments, FBI spokesman Dan Vogel denied a report in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram on Saturday quoting unnamed law enforcement sources as saying the man known as “John Doe No. 2” has been identified and eliminated as a suspect.

The officials told the Texas newspaper that authorities do not believe the man was involved in the bombing or in renting the truck that was used to transport the explosives.

The man did rent a truck about the same time that McVeigh did and was traced through the truck rental agency, the sources told the Star-Telegram.

“The person in the composite was an erroneous lead,” one official told the newspaper.

But Vogel said the report was incorrect.

“We are still trying to locate and identify John Doe No. 2,” Vogel said. “We are still soliciting the public’s cooperation in that endeavor.”

He declined to comment further.