My name is Kamron Wixom, I was a 12 year old 6th grader in 1986 when a mad man took over my school (Cokeville Elementary) with a bomb and his guns. David and Doris Young took 167 hostages (150 children, 17 adults and one unlucky UPS driver) at the elementary school. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. I've got to get back to work now! David returned to the restroom and killed himself, ending the hostage crisis. Rich Haskell: I did not. [6] With permission, the teachers brought in books, art supplies and a television to help keep the children occupied. Rich Haskell: Approximately three and a half days. . Cokeville Elementary School Bombing | WyoHistory.org During the chaos, Doris' burnt body was expelled through a window, and left lying on the front lawn. Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. 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. 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. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. I actually have a pretty clear memory of the events that day, being 12 years old. He did deliver our salvation that day. I have no doubt about my friends witness testimonies - even though I saw or heard nothing such as they did. Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" But I know that, well, I'll just be quite frank. I remember watching that when I was a younger kid, and when they were interviewing the witnesses, I remember several of them referencing "Heavenly Father " instead of "God," and I knew immediately they were LDS. In 1986 , 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. Some of the children just sat right all around and just watched him. Carbon County School District No. What is your assessment of these two people who did this? results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. The timelines of some events are fuzzy Its hard to nail down what stands out the most, there were a LOT of crazy things I'd never seen before then, or since really. I know there's angels. Educated at Chadron State College in Nebraska, he had earned a degree in criminal justice, and was hired as Cokevilles town marshal in the 1970s. I actually created a website knowing that people would wonder what was real and what wasn't. Cook, the school's secretary and the first person taken hostage, could tell Young's threats were serious. Now you've got problems. Mark Junge: And when you went into the classroom you saw holes in the walls? My husband and I are looking forward to seeing the movie, as we weren't around when it happened and have just recently learned about it. The explosion engulfed her in flames and burned many nearby children. I was up there as part of his protection team. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Two of the three blasting caps on the bomb failed to detonate; the wires to each tuna can had been reportedly cut. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. This did, in fact, happen in Wyoming! So if it can happen there it can happen anywhere in the United States. Mark Junge: Okay. Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. You can see what's happening in the world today. Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with memories of the presence of angels. I believe a presence was entering the room at about that time. The kids couldn't have done it. They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. The device was set up on afor lack of a better word, I call it a shopping cart. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! The jug of gasoline had a pinhole-sized leak on its bottom. Survivors began to tell their stories through a spiritual lens. Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? In the West? Rich Haskell: Well, as we were talking before we started recording, because of my knowledge with the explosives and with the law enforcement and everything else, I've had many opportunitiesbecause of the explosivesI've been with Vice President Cheney when he was here in Wyoming up in Pinedale. It's just something that you just have to stay on top of. Trauma is trauma and everyone deals with it differently. Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. Lota, Louinn. And it was a perfect trajectory up into the ceiling where that bullet was. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Even though the majority of the townspeople are LDS, there are lots of people of a variety of faiths in the room that day. Rich Haskell: Because of the response and because of the emails and everything that took place. The town has worked to be as respectful as possible to the multitude of experiences that day. Mark Junge: Where at? In 2006, the Cokeville Miracle Foundation compiled a book of recollections about the day from parents, emergency workers and former hostages. Retro Report took a look back at this episode, with a focus on how Johnson & Johnson and . 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! Shortly after their wedding, David and Doris left Cokeville and headed to Tucson, Ariz. During their time in Tucson, according to Doris daughter Bernie Petersen, David became increasingly reclusive, focusing on his philosophical readings and writings. . He came out of the bathroom, is what we figured. Meanwhile, Doris went from classroom to classroom, luring 136 children, six faculty, nine teachers, and three other adults, including a job applicant and a UPS driver, into a first-grade classroom for a total of 154 hostages. I guess I should say I am only speaking as a child, the adults were probably tense the entire time! So many of 'em thatI don't know. Mark Junge: Okay. There's a piece of wood in there that separates the jaws of a clothespin and in that clothespin there are two metal connections that the wires were hooked to which made the electrical connection with the bomb. What had happenedI can't explain it. I was literally blown out the door when the bomb went off , and i remember how time slowed down in those seconds. But shortly after entering the school, Princess decided to rebel. The tuna fish cans, if you can imagine, here's two tuna fish cans sittin' here like this, and a gallon jug of gasoline sittin' above it. I remember seeing the wide eyes on my band teacher as he collapsed with the EMTs afterward. 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. Whether or not you believe in God or miracles, show some respect. I can understand that. Then he went to the restroom, which was attached to the classroom. In what many have since labeled a miracle, all of the 154 children and educators held hostage for three hours at their Cokeville, Wyoming, school lived, though many were injured. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. By Deseret News. Have there been any lingering psychological effects from going through something so traumatic while so young? Reporters from all the regional news outlets were on the scene by the time of the explosion or shortly thereafter. At least 74 people, most of them children, suffered second-degree burns when the bomb went off at about 4 P.M. at the Cokeville Elementary School. Couple Take Over School But Die After Bomb Blast I'm proud of all my children. Bomber's body removed - Billings Gazette And I think that these people actually thought that they could start another world. So we decided to take some masking tape, and we tapedI think it was an eight-foot square in the middle of the room, right here, and he pushed the cart, the homemade bomb into this, and we told the children this was the magic square. And the bathroom was off to the side of it because it was the kindergarten class. Cokeville Elementary School Explosion - Unsolved Mysteries Wiki The two brought in a bomb attached to themselves with a lanyard. Students, teachers, visitors, staff who survived the ordeal and bystanders began recounting their memories of this event as it was still unfolding. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47,[1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. Of what you would picture an angel, with the wings and, Mark Junge: Well, if I'm a skeptic, I could say, "Well, that's just the way the flames shot up.". Where you find brackets [ ] I have added words for explanation or to complete an awkward sentence. 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. 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. Mark Junge: And what happened? They lived in a mobile home with Princess, Davids youngest daughter from his first marriage. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. There was no give in the school bus. David was a diabetic. Carbon County School District No. And, then, shortly after 4 p.m., the bomb exploded. This allowed gasoline to drip into the tuna fish cans, turning the aluminum-flour mixture into paste, unable to aerosolize. [T]rust is big here youngsters grow up knowing they can turn to many other members of the community with confidence, write Hartt and Judene Wixom in Trial by Terror: The Child-hostage Crisis in Cokeville, Wyoming. Twenty-five years ago on Monday, a man and his wife pushed a homemade gasoline bomb into Cokeville's sole elementary school and demanded $300 million in ransom. At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. I mean, what it was supposed to do? Im living proof.. Whenever they would come to Wyoming I would be part of their security team. The kids could just go to the bathroom right from their classroom. All the kids were saved. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville www.wyohistory.org 25 years after school bombing, Wyoming town remembers the . Rich Haskell: No. Man Decapitated by Exploding Pipe Bomb - NBC Chicago With fear that David might become unhinged, the teachers decided to make an ~8-foot square of masking tape for his own personal space. You'd had experience? He had just big rings of perspiration. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47, [1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. Okay? This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. [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. No, we can't do this. Cokeville miracle marking 25 years - Deseret News In addition, national reporters began arriving within hours of the explosion. Current students at Cokeville Elementary School aren't taught about the '86 bombing, but most know the general story. They increasingly spoke about their memories in public with professional psychologists, church officials and community counselors. Do you think this is a historical event? It killed her instantly. The wire was cut. Students, teachers, staff and visitors frantically exited the building, with teachers helping many of the children escape through the windows. Is there a news article that I could read to get a better idea of what happened? Cokeville Recollects Miracle of 1986: Hostage Survivors, Town Residents Compile Book, ________. So if the state didn't pay him, he figured the Mormon church would pay him because the Mormon church has money also. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . The detonation didn't do it, it was cut. COKEVILLE, Wyo. Rich Haskell: Well, I got a lot of it while I was in the Marine Corps and in the Army National Guard. But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there. This all happened about 8 months after the bombing. When the children became increasingly loud, Doris Young began begging the teachers to settle the group down. With the explosionwhat occurred? 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. Dozens. It was within the first few weeks that the Hartley boy was explaining his witness. Go to their hands and knees and crawl out. I don't know. Personally I gave him 17 pages of journal notes! Family is the most important thing in a Mormon family. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. David saw John Miller, the music teacher, trying to escape and shot him in the back. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/deseret_news?id=nz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4165,3587249&dq=cokeville+bombing&hl=en, http://archive.org/details/SurvivorIsMyName-VoicesOfTheCokevilleElementarySchoolBombing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNB_xdPiYE, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6656,2193766&dq=cokeville+trying+to+rebuild&hl=en, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oD1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&dq=cokeville&pg=7027%2C3851642, http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/MultiMedia/Display.aspx?ID=86&icon=1, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19870529&id=-AogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1067,6238243, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19870521&id=w4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zH4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4596,6209063, https://www.deseret.com/2006/5/15/19953524/cokeville-recollects-miracle-of-1986, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18072820, http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article%E2%80%943077bf4a-a45e-5dad-ae3a-a99aa8fcf3aa.html, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19960515&id=Ke5LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5227,9406392, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19940404&id=GoQwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2778,1992787, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705372484/Cokeville-miracle-marking-25-years.html, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_ZX4Qbsi4, 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, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father 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, Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell 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, Law and Order in Cokeville: A Woman Mayor and Prohibition, 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, A Projectile Killed Doris Young, Not Bomb Blast, Police in Cokeville Say., Castaneda, Sue and Mark Junge. These are designed to just spread out the particles all over the air. Anything? That's what it was designed to do was to go out and be particles and that gasoline was gonna ignite it and blow it up. The circuit was powered by a 9-volt lantern battery. Peterson, Carol. I don't think that they were planningor David was planning on the ceiling tiles in the school. 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 . It is a touchy topic for us, and could come across the wrong way.