Kansas City, MO Ammonium Nitrate Explosion, Nov 1988
POLICE SEEK CLUES IN KC BLAST.
Kansas City, Mo. (AP) -- The ammonium nitrate that exploded during an arson fire at a highway construction site and killed six firemen had been mixed with other compounds that made it far more volatile, police said.
Firefighters wore black bands around their badges Wednesday to honor those who died in what was the worst firefighting tragedy in the city's history.
Killed in the explosion Tuesday at a construction site in south Kansas City were Capt. GERALD C. HALLORAN, 59, Capt. JAMES H. KILVENTON, 54, and firemen THOMAS M. FRY, 41, LUTHER E. HURD, 31, ROBERT McKARNIN, 42, and MICHAEL R. OLDHAM, 32.
Officials initially thought that only ammonium nitrate, considered one of the milder and more stable form of explosives, had been in the two trailers that blew up in the predawn hours Tuesday.
The ammonium nitrate had been mixed with diesel fuel, pink dye and powdered aluminum to form "Maynes mix," a blasting agent susally detonated by a small amount of dynamite, police said.
The discovery explains why the blasts were powerful enough to kill the firefighters, demolish two firetrucks and create a boom that was heard as far as 40 miles away.
"All it requires is a heat source" to explode, said Sgt. GREGORY MILLS, a police spokesman.
MILLS said there were no significant developments Wednesday in the arson investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating whether the explosives were stored properly, said TOM TRUMAN, special agent in charge. Federal regulations govern the distances that must separate stored explosives from houses, buildings, highways and other explosives.
The bureau conducted a routine administrative inspection at the site before Tuesday's tragedy but TRUMAN declined to discuss it.
The six firefighters had been warned by a dispatcher there could be explosives at the scene of a fire that police believe was sparked by an arsonist, transcripts of conversations with dispatchers show.
Firefighters wore black bands around their badges Wednesday to honor those who died in what was the worst firefighting tragedy in the city's history.
Killed in the explosion Tuesday at a construction site in south Kansas City were Capt. GERALD C. HALLORAN, 59, Capt. JAMES H. KILVENTON, 54, and firemen THOMAS M. FRY, 41, LUTHER E. HURD, 31, ROBERT McKARNIN, 42, and MICHAEL R. OLDHAM, 32.
Officials initially thought that only ammonium nitrate, considered one of the milder and more stable form of explosives, had been in the two trailers that blew up in the predawn hours Tuesday.
The ammonium nitrate had been mixed with diesel fuel, pink dye and powdered aluminum to form "Maynes mix," a blasting agent susally detonated by a small amount of dynamite, police said.
The discovery explains why the blasts were powerful enough to kill the firefighters, demolish two firetrucks and create a boom that was heard as far as 40 miles away.
"All it requires is a heat source" to explode, said Sgt. GREGORY MILLS, a police spokesman.
MILLS said there were no significant developments Wednesday in the arson investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating whether the explosives were stored properly, said TOM TRUMAN, special agent in charge. Federal regulations govern the distances that must separate stored explosives from houses, buildings, highways and other explosives.
The bureau conducted a routine administrative inspection at the site before Tuesday's tragedy but TRUMAN declined to discuss it.
The six firefighters had been warned by a dispatcher there could be explosives at the scene of a fire that police believe was sparked by an arsonist, transcripts of conversations with dispatchers show.
Atchison Daily Globe Kansas 1988-12-01
Ammonium nitrate disasters
ovember 29, 1988, at 4:07 am two trailers containing approximately 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of the explosive ANFO (ammonium nitrate with fuel oil) exploded at a construction site located near the 87th street exit of Highway 71 in Kansas City, Missouri. The explosives were to be used in the blasting of rock while constructing Highway 71. The result of the explosions were the deaths of six firemen from the Kansas City Fire Department's Pumper Companies 30 and 41. Both companies were dispatched after 911 calls indicated that a fire had been set to a pickup truck located near the trailers. The responding companies were warned that there were explosives on-site; however, they were unaware that the trailers were essentially magazines filled with explosives. At 4:07 am one of the "magazines" caught fire and a catastrophic explosion occurred, killing all six firemen instantly — only sparing remains were found. A second blast occurred 40 minutes later, although all fire crews had been pulled back at this time. The blasts created two craters, each approximately 100 feet (30 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. The explosions also shattered windows within a 10-mile (16 km) area and could be heard 40 miles (64 km) away. It was later determined that the explosions were acts of arson, set by individuals embroiled in a labor dispute with the construction company contracted to build the highway.[11][12]
A Quest for Closure Outweighed the Search For Truth!
This site exists to bring attention to a gross miscarriage of justice. Closure to this tragic incident cannot be attained until those who are responsible for the explosion that killed the 6 Kansas City Firefighters are brought to justice and the wrongly convicted released.
As you read the trial transcripts and the articles on this tragic incident, noticeable are the many inconsistencies in testimony and the erroneous evidence used by the prosecution to construct the case against the defendants.
Noticeable also is the fact that there are 22 volumes of trial transcript for the prosecution and only one for the defense -- exculpatory evidence for the defendants was not allowed to be presented during the trial.
What the prosecution failed to understand is that there are those of us out here who are concerned with how ‘justice’ is meted out. For if these 5 people can be used as scapegoats to put closure to a highly controversial case then all of us are at risk for the same kind of treatment when a similar situation arises.
The Kansas City Firefighters Case: The Framing of Five Innocent People
By J. Patrick O’Connor
By 1994 both teams of investigators had come to such dead ends that, for all intents and purposes, the investigation was over. The killers had escaped the wide net; the most horrific unsolved crime in Kansas City history would remain unsolved.
At this juncture, the local ATF office and the KCPD decided to join forces and conduct one investigation. To accommodate the ATF, the KCPD agreed to replace its Crime Against Persons investigative team with detectives from its Bombs and Arson unit. This switch would put ATF Special Agent Dave True in firm, out-of-control control.
True, nearing retirement but not wanting to retire with the biggest case of his career still unsolved, had steadfastly maintained that organized labor was responsible for the explosions. As late as February of 1995 he said on the TV program “Unsolved Mysteries” that the fire and explosion were consistent with previous acts by organized labor in the year preceding the explosions.
Toward the end of 1994, the investigation got the jump start it had been seeking after True announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for causing the explosion that killed the firefighters. The reward was posted in all Missouri and Kansas prisons and jails, on a number of overpasses, and was widely reported in the news media. Between 60 and 70 convicts in Missouri and Kansas contacted the ATF in response to the award offer. One of the neighborhood callers told True that Richard Brown had admitted being involved in the explosions. True testified at trial that this call “was a starting point for investigating the Marlborough area.”
Although no two of the informants who surfaced would ever tell the same story, much less name the same cast of perpetrators, True eventually focused the investigation on fiveMarlborough neighborhood residents with shady pasts – four Native Americans: Richard Brown, Bryan Sheppard, Frank and Skip Sheppard, and Frank Sheppard’s girlfriend, Darlene Edwards. True then used entrapment, deception and intimidation in an effort to turn each of the suspects against one or more of the others.
In early 1995, True also orchestrated coverage of the Firefighters Case on the TV series “Unsolved Mysteries.” Two days before the segment aired, The Kansas City Star ran a front-page story that quoted Richard Cook, the ATF agent in charge of the Kansas City office, as saying, “We’ve identified some individuals we believe are at least connected to the fire.”
The day after the “Unsolved Mysteries” segment ran, police arrested Bryan Sheppard on drug charges (selling drugs to an uncover officer). When Bryan appeared in court, True was there to argue that a high bond should be set because Bryan had been threatening witnesses in the Firefighters Case. No such witnesses were ever identified, but the allegation was publicized. (Bryan had been arrested and charged by the State of Missouri with this crime in 1989 based on the false statements of two jailhouse snitches. He was released nine months later when his attorney was able to prove that the snitches had lied.)
Eight days later, in January of 1995, True orchestrated the arrest of Darlene Edwards on drug charges. True had gotten her stepson, Ronnie Edwards, to set her up for the bust in a school zone.
In February of 1995, when Skip Sheppard had a court appearance on a charge of transporting guns across a state line, True appeared in court to request a high bond, alleging that Skip had been threatening Firefighter Case witnesses. U.S. Magistrate John Maughmer released Skip on standard bond when True was unable to identify any such witnesses.
On March 14, 1995, The Star ran a front-page story saying the government’s investigation was focusing on the Sheppards and Darlene Edwards. The story cited possible physical evidence, “including a two-way radio that may have been stolen shortly before the explosion…Some witnesses said the suspects were stealing construction equipment, while others said they intended to steal dynamite. Some said the fire was a diversion. Others said it was done for spite.”
This article would become a script for perjury by many of the government witnesses at both the grand jury and at trial. Over and over again the jailhouse informants would claim the Sheppards were up there stealing construction equipment, or dynamite, or walkie-talkies, and that the fire was a diversion for these thefts. At trial the general manager of the construction site would testify that nothing was ever stolen from the site.
Using perjured testimony and the alleged thefts of construction site materials such as explosives, batteries, and walki-talkies, U.S. Assistant Attorney Paul Becker got a grand jury to indict Bryan Sheppard, Richard Brown, Frank Sheppard, Skip Sheppard and Darlene Edwards in June of 1996 for causing the blast that killed the firefighters.
In early 1997, a federal jury found all five defendants guilty of causing the deaths of the firefighters. Judge Joseph Stevens sentenced each of them to life in prison without the possibility of parole. All subsequent appeals have been denied.
Not one of the convicted had a single thing to do with the explosion. Their crime was that they were poor and expendable. Three of the convicted passed police-administered polygraph tests; Darlene Edwards’s request to be polygraphed was denied by True, and Skip Sheppard was never asked to take a polygraph. None of the convicted ever admitted to any personal involvement in the crime, nor did any ever take the Fifth Amendment. None ever requested an attorney be present while being interviewed by the police or ATF. Each of the defendants turned down numerous government offers to turn state’s evidence and receive a significantly reduced sentence.
No trial in U.S. history used more convicts and ex-convicts as government witnesses. Few trials in U.S. history represent a more concerted effort by the U.S. government to frame innocent people.
Read by book "True Justice" By Ella Hutton and see another side to this story.
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