Terrance Yeakey was a sergeant at the Oklahoma City Police Department who died in mysterious and highly controversial circumstances a year after his heroic rescue service at the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. Officially it was a suicide driven by guilt and despair, but many people think he was silenced by the federal government in order to keep him from exposing their complicity in the terrorist attack.
Biography
Terrance Yeakey was born in September 19, 1965. After school years he served in the military and spent time in Saudi Arabia. He joined the OCPD in 1989. Among other services, Yeakey played a major role in the rescue and recovery operations following the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 in Oklahoma City. Yeakey was the first to arrive on the scene that day and saved the lives of four to eight people from the rubble of the building and the effects of the explosion. According to his family and friends, Terrance Yeakey became aware of something disturbing at the bombing site that day, which led him to reject the official story of the Oklahoma City bombing. Over the next year, he began a private investigation into the bombing, which resulted in finding, according to him, "evidence of a cover-up of the bombing by federal agents". Terrance Yeakey did not reveal what he saw at the bombing site and kept the details of his investigation secret even from his close relatives. Over time, his household was subjected to numerous threatening phone calls by persons unknown. Yeakey told his friends he was being intimidated and tailed by federal agents. In honor of his heroic rescue service, Yeakey was scheduled to receive the Medal of Valor from the OCPD a year after the bombing, on May 11, 1996. Three days before he was meant to receive the honors, however, on May 8, 1996 Terrance Yeakey, according to the official report, committed suicide. After Yeakey's death, his private bombing reports were not found, thus, there are only assumptions about what he might have found.
Yeakey's death
Terrance Yeakey was discovered dead in a field near his hometown, El Reno, a mile and a half away from his abandoned, blood-soaked car. Yeakey was mutilated and shot to death: slit at his wrists, arms, elbows, stabbed in both sides of his neck near the jugular vein and shot in the side of the head at a 45-degree angle with a small caliber revolver. Signs of hauling, such as rope burns on the neck, handcuff bruises to the wrists, slash wounds embeded with muddy grass were observed on the body. According to anonymous officers, no weapon was found at the scene despite the in-depth official investigation, until an FBI helicopter arrived. No evidence of alcohol was found in Yeakey's body.
Interpretations
There are two common narratives of Yeakey's death.
Official narrative
The official report declares Terrance Yeakey's death a suicide. It maintains that a distraught Yeakey, driven by guilt and despondency, mutilated himself in his car, and then walked 8,000 feet through rough terrain and climbed a fence before shooting himself to death. The Police claim Yeakey left no suicide note. That left friends and co-workers, according to officer Jim Ramsey, speculate that he was driven by guilt over bombing rescue and his despondency over a troubled family life.
Alternative narrative
Many people, including the family of Terrance Yeakey, question the official report of a suicide. They claim that Terrance Yeakey's death was a murder, and local law enforcement were complicit in covering it up. Their conclusion is based on the manner of death, Yeakey's personality, his recent statements about the future, and the lack of investigation and autopsy. Skeptics of the official report link the killing of Yeakey to his investigation into the Oklahoma City Bombing, claiming that he was silenced by the government in an effort to keep him from exposing their complicity in the terrorist attack.
