The University of Texas–Austin has removed a trove of records about Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh from online archives at the request of a person named in the documents, according to an archivist at UT Austin.
Much of the archive had been available online, but it was taken down earlier this year for privacy reasons, Briscoe Center reference archivist Erin Harbour said.
“It turns out that at least one of the documents posted online had someone else’s name in it, and they contacted the host of the site to have the document removed because the person thought they were being discussed in a defamatory fashion,” Harbour told The Epoch Times. “It was a legal decision to remove the documents, per this individual’s request.”
Harbour said she didn’t know which document was subject to the complaint and that the entire archive had been taken offline out of an abundance of caution.
“This happened in early February or March of this year, so other items were probably removed per review to make sure something else wasn’t up there that someone might find problematic,” she said.
Harbour said the archive is still available to inspect in person by appointment, subject to restrictions on examining medical records, Social Security numbers, and other third-party sensitive information.
“A lot of the material is sensitive items related to bodies and things of that nature,” she said.
The Jones Archive has attracted researchers exploring unanswered questions surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing. Oklahoma City bombing researcher Richard Booth downloaded some of the records while they were still online, providing a few to The Epoch Times that he said were particularly interesting.
Among those is a memo from a McVeigh defense team member who interviewed former CIA counterterrorism official Vincent Cannistraro in May 1996 about the case. Cannistraro was working as a consultant for ABC News at the time but claimed to have been receiving information about the case from intelligence sources.
According to the memo, Cannistraro told McVeigh’s defense team that “the government thinks that there are more individuals involved, and has various theories concerning the identity of John Doe 2"—a reference to the mysterious McVeigh accomplice that the FBI now claims never existed.
Along with raising questions about the case, the Jones Archive also includes memos about McVeigh’s personal life and psychology, including the one in which the defense team discussed his belief about the implanted microchip.
“Tim told me he recently received dental work, and is confident our conversations are being monitored via a transmitter installed in his tooth,” a McVeigh defense team member wrote in February 1996.
Another undated internal defense team memo accused McVeigh of lying to his attorneys.
“Tim is a masterful manipulator and con man. The better part of his adult life is predicated upon lies, deceptions and cons. His story is riddled with inconsistencies. The larger part of his adult life is predicated upon lies, deceptions, cons, theft and adultery and yet, Tim continues to assert, with a straight face even, that truth, integrity and honor are his predominant characteristics as a man,” the memo reads.
“Every person has the capacity for self-deception, but Tim’s is seemingly infinite.”
Jones told The Epoch Times on May 17 that he wasn’t aware the archive had been taken offline. He said he would write UT–Austin about the matter, but he didn’t respond to a follow-up email from The Epoch Times.
