Because of the experience and the different classes that I've attended, I know what bombs do to people, to buildings and to all kinds of structures. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. And, then, shortly after 4 p.m., the bomb exploded. COKEVILLE, Wyo. Of course, most children were elated by the prospects of an assembly. The Power of Faith: 25 Years After School Bombing, Town Remembers Story of Survival., Mitchell, Ruth Ann. Yeah, we didn't get a lot of sleep. Because they refused to participate, Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime. I remember seeing the wide eyes on my band teacher as he collapsed with the EMTs afterward. Where's he running? I guess I should say I am only speaking as a child, the adults were probably tense the entire time! Were you portrayed in the movie at all? But I walked up to the window and looked inside the window and didn't hardly see anything out of the ordinary except it was all black inside. Do you think this is a historical event? Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Mark Junge: One of the things that Sue and I found out is that people don't regret doing this because they think it's important for history. At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. Where you find brackets [ ] I have added words for explanation or to complete an awkward sentence. Now this is just for my own information and it doesn't have anything to do with this case, but whenever I read about a bomb threat in the paper, I think to myself, "Oh, no! Too many of 'em to try to remember their birthdays. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young entered Cokeville Elementary School with a gasoline bomb, a variety of rifles and handguns, David's philosophical writings and demands for $300 million in ransom. . Seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide. Interesting stuff to me! Is that morbid thinking on my part? I'm portrayed as the little red haired kid with glasses that asks about the AK-47. Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. But we knew what our story was, and that it could help offer hope. I know that for a fact! results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. The bomb did detonate and fire, thick black smoke and toxi fumes filled the room. The top basket contained a gallon milk jug of gasoline, wired with a blasting cap. I knew fairly quickly that he would be the best chance we had at this. While David and Doris Young were not involved in an organized religion, both were deeply spiritual. Doris tried numerous times to calm the children by telling them to "think of it as an adventure movie," or that they "would have a great story to tell their grandchildren." The photo of Rich Haskell is by Wyoming State Archives. You see the bag ladies pullin' them around behind them when they go to the store and they can put their groceries in or whatever else. The gasoline bottle was leaking. Rich Haskell: And fourteen and a half great-grandchildren. Edit: Also, were you at that early screening? When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. Okay? Once all the hostages were contained in the first grade classroom, David Young informed them that they were leading a revolution and distributed copies of his philosophy Zero Equals Infinity to everyone present. Rich Haskell: I think it could be a spiritual experience that I have with church, or being around the kids, I don't know. [5] The wooden piece was tied to Doris' wrist by a string. Also, what do you want us to know about it that isn't covered in the film? Rich Haskell: If it would have went off like it was supposed to have gone off, it would have lifted the roof off of that school. Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. During my years here in Wyoming I have refereed both basketball and football on the high school and the junior high school level, and I was watching the ball game at that time. Mark Junge: And what happened? This narrative was perpetuated in many publications and productions. It was there for a long time, all that support. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. During the chaos, Doris' burnt body was expelled through a window, and left lying on the front lawn. I can understand that. Rich Haskell: The bullet in him was in the bathroom. The mood did not lift with the singing and teachers quickly negotiated with the hostage takers to get items from the library to help the kids get their minds off the siege,[8] and help to pass the time. Once the wooden piece was removed, the two metal connectors completed the circuit, detonating the bomb. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. They're the ones that died from the whole thing. And they had trouble keeping people away from the building. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo. The two brought in a bomb attached to themselves with a lanyard. Mark Junge: EOD. Amy Bagaso Williams was a fifth-grader when a couple used a bomb while taking hostages at her Wyoming school on May 16, 1986. David Young. What should people know going into the film? When I looked at everyone looking at me (as if I should call on someone to say it) I realized I should call on Allyson Cornia - literally because she was the smartest kid in the class! Mark Junge: Did you find the bullet that killed him, too? [5] The leaking gasoline's fumes prompted teachers to open the classroom windows, unknowingly creating vents for the impending explosion. On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and thirteen teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy - one of the worst in American history. I didn't look at the speedometer, I was just kind of watchin' for animals and everything else. And you could see that she had been burning by just looking at her out on the front lawn. With the explosionwhat occurred? Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. The only two fatalities were David and Doris Young. The man and woman who took an elementary school here hostage Friday, injuring 70 children when their homemade gasoline bomb exploded, had ties to the Posse Comitatus and other white supremacist. And the bathroom was off to the side of it because it was the kindergarten class. Reporters from all the regional news outlets were on the scene by the time of the explosion or shortly thereafter. The kids couldn't have cut it. During the Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. She tied the string around her wrist. Because of the tiles and the window? And then he shot himself. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. I don't know what. AN EXPLOSION of vapors, resultLing from a combination of circumstances at the Kearney, N. J., plant of the Koppers Coke Company, on May 17, 1948, resulted in the death of ten men and started a . Just before implementing the Biggie, David Young had also sent a copy of the document to President Ronald Reagan, the president of Chadron State College and numerous media outlets. Sue Castaneda: Where did you get your training for that? Maybe writing that up 2 years ago when this came along was more healing for me than for him, but I gave it all to him! It would have killed them. No. [7] The mechanism was triggered by a dead man's switch, consisting of a wooden piece separating two metal connectors within the jaws of a clothespin, forming an incomplete circuit. The Cokeville hostage crisis began the afternoon of May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 children and adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. Well, when I arrived at Cokeville, of course they had the roads all blocked off and there was not a lot of people around the school at the time. The story was also featured on Unsolved Mysteries, Unexplained Mysteries, and I Survived A movie about the incident, The Cokeville Miracle, was made by filmmaker T. C. Christensen and released on June 5, 2015. You can ask me anything about this today between 1-2pm. Whether or not you believe in God or miracles, show some respect. It was in their Tucson home that David came up with what he considered the Biggie, a plan to get rich quick and create a Brave New World. This plan involved Davids longtime friends, Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who believed by investing in Davids scheme they would get rich. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. Who died in the Cokeville bombing? Some of the children just sat right all around and just watched him. Mark Junge: to go through all this? Rich Haskell: I was cookin' right along, yes I was! Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. When the thing went off, when the bomb exploded, they just started chuckin' people out the windows. I mean, what it was supposed to do? 96 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from J.Cano: Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode I'm proud of all my children. It packed the brute force of twenty-five sticks of dynamite. Mark Junge: And you know, in Sue and I's conversation with these dozen people we've talked to now, seems like they also feel the same way you do. Mark Junge: Do you still think about this? She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Either way, right after my joke is about when David excused himself from the room. But he knew the culture, he knew the type of people, and I'm not sayin' that Mormon people are better than anybody else, but their way of life is family is first. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. Several other survivors were there. Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? Cokeville officially has only536 people in it and two LDS wards that meet in the same chapel. Rich Haskell: No. But it still sent flames all over in the room and you can see where all the flames were in that room. Have you had anything like this, anything close to this happen? On May 16, 1986, David Young, Cokeville's former town marshal, and his wife, Doris, carried five rifles, five handguns and a "dead man's bomb" into the elementary school. Mark Junge: You think when we talk to you to bring this up againI know you're emotional about itbut does it hurt you to talk about this? The detonation didn't do it, it was cut. That dead-man switch is a piece of string that goes around your wrist and it's hooked into a clothespin, the other end of it. SHARE Cokeville recollects 'miracle' of 1986. She was on fire! Mark Junge: Today is the 23rd of September, 2010. He shot and killed her. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a couple with a bomb. Many children showed signs of distress with sobs, complaining of headaches from the smell of gasoline from the bomb, or simply wanting to go home. Others miracles were reported and some of those are recorded in this compilation.." Rich Haskell: Yes, I did. She was totally burned. Box 37, Cokeville, Wyoming 83114. I absolutely have. There are several great resources out there. And knew what they could do? You HAVE to find the positives or the negatives can eat you up the rest of your life. How did you determine how everything looked when this went up in smoke itself. They forget about what happened in Cokeville with a lot more people and the potential of what was there. Sue Castaneda: Carla said that some people were mad that we were there. He had just big rings of perspiration. Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized.~Transcribed by Russ Sherwin, Feb. 27, 2011. I cannot explain it! They were sitting out across the fence with scopes on their rifles just ready to shoot until the sheriff went out and said, "No. Both David and Doris had ties to white supremacist groups, including the Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. All the kids were saved. I was frightened and felt that we needed to do something to try to calm down or to be careful, because he was so agitated. Go to school and learn how to do it." Mark Junge: Yeah, my brother-in-law worked in the Navy as a chief petty officer and he worked with what they called EOD. Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. We know for a fact that he had tried that device because he did it in Arizona and totally destroyed a school bus. "If you can see the bomb, the bomb can see you," an officer shouted. You know this is going to sound morbid, but I always thought if the Muslims, the radical Muslims were smart, they would take their jihad to local communities because that would scare the hell out of 'em like it did in Cokeville. When Columbine took place, it was such a big deal, and I mentioned to a couple people, "You know, Columbine wasn't the first school to have anything happen." The basket, the shelves. She is one of the survivors whose story has become a part of The Cokeville Miracle. Rich Haskell: Absolutely. I think I made it there in record timeI'm not sure. ", About 2 1/2 hours into the standoff, David transferred the triggering mechanism of the bomb to Doris' wrist, and went to a small bathroom that connected the first and second grade rooms. I saw an early screening of the film and absolutely loved it. He used to work in Cokeville. Certified Bomb Technician. My name is Mark Junge and I'm here at the Hiltonis it the Hilton Hotel? Retro Report took a look back at this episode, with a focus on how Johnson & Johnson and . Mark Junge: So it would have gone upward, but would it have killed the kids? One hostage observed a birthday on that day and songs were sung in his honor. A new movie is coming out on Friday called "The Cokeville Miracle" that depicts not just this terrible event, but the various miraculous stories that emerged afterward. David was a diabetic. Well, when I arrived and saw that body layin' on the front lawn, I was told that was Doris. Mark Junge: Do you think he took up thatwanted to take that up because of you? I received a telephone call from my dispatcher informing me that an incident had taken place up in Cokeville and they were requesting me to drive to Cokeville for assistance. Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime because of their refusal to participate.[6]. Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? I just stayed right there and we processed the scene and did the scene. They increasingly spoke about their memories in public with professional psychologists, church officials and community counselors. As I come to the junctionI'm sorry, I don't know what the road is that goes over to Bear Lakebut as I was passing that intersection, they did inform me that the bomb had exploded. The device was set up on afor lack of a better word, I call it a shopping cart. Anything? David and Doris both returned to Cokeville on May 16, 1986. How has that experience shaped your life? David Youngs journals and writings reveal that he was a troubled man who spent many years grappling with deep philosophical questionsabout mans existence, the afterlife and spirituality. Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. I actually have a pretty clear memory of the events that day, being 12 years old. SHARE Cokeville miracle marking 25 years. Trauma is trauma and everyone deals with it differently. Here is a local story from the 20 year anniversary (we are at the 29th year now), What's your side of the story? Two of the three blasting caps on the bomb failed to detonate; the wires to each tuna can had been reportedly cut. I mean, not everybody would do this. At that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. I've got to get back to work now! When you say what cut the wire? NOTE: Witness to Miracles was published in 2006 by Pronghorn Press, www.pronghornpress.org . Did you see anything? The Cokeville Town Hall is located at 110 Pine St. For more information, visit the website of the Cokeville Chamber of Commerce at http://www.cokevillewy.com or call (307) 459-4195. Just like with a pair of pliers, pair of snips. Mark Junge: And that's the lesson we learn. They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. I was still trying to make sense of it all! I called back to my dispatcher and they did inform me that the school in Cokeville was being held hostage by two individuals and there was bombs involved. And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. ", Mark Junge: So it took you three days, three and a half days. The couple corralled a large group of students and teachers into a single classroom. Cook, the school's secretary and the first person taken hostage, could tell Young's threats were serious. Rich Haskell: Because of the response and because of the emails and everything that took place. I gathered up some of the equipment that I would need and a change of clothes and proceeded to Cokeville. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. And I didn't know about the angel thing comin' to the kids until many days later. Rich Haskell: I am. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. The circuit was powered by a 9-volt lantern battery. David returned to the restroom and killed himself, ending the hostage crisis. Well, you know how fine that dust is. Rich Haskell: Well, I didn't know a lot about 'em and I still don't know a lot about 'em. To go off to the side? Davids writings reveal that he hoped life would be better for him and Cokevilles children in this imaginary place. He did deliver our salvation that day. Hey, I am not the survivor, but I spent my summers in Cokeville, my family is from there, and I have been helping on publicity for the film. Witnesses later testified that just before the explosion David Young had connected the explosive to his wife. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. May 12, 2011, 2:30am PDT. 154 of us were held hostage for almost 3 hours in a 30x32 room when the bomb actually detonated - all 154 hostages survived. They did a good job telling this story. Throughout both baskets were chain links, gunpowder, and boxes of ammunition acting as shrapnel. Mark Junge: Well, and it burned some of the kids. And that's what we in this country have that these other fanatics or whatever is the family is the import factor. The Cokeville Town Hall is located at 110 Pine St. For more information, visit the website of the Cokeville Chamber of Commerce at http://www.cokevillewy.com or call (307) 459-4195. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. I certainly enjoy my grandkids a lot more. She was a divorce who earned money working as a waitress and singer in a local bar. I don't know ifI just felt an emptyactually I could just see a hundred-sixty people dead! Well, with the window being open, with the ceiling tiles being able to lift up and down, I think that absorbed a lot of the explosion of the gasoline bottle. Davids friends did not know that the Biggie was a plan to take over Cokeville Elementary School, hold each of the children hostage for $2 million dollars apiece and then detonate the bomb, transporting the money and children to his Brave New World, where he would be God. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! Rich Haskell: Yep. Located in Lincoln County and nestled between the towns of Star Valley and Kemmerer on the Wyoming-Idaho border, Cokeville, many residents believed, was a safe place to rear children. He knew it was a predominantly Mormon [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] community.