Bomb trail takes another twist // Ex-chemist in string of coincidences
Mark Potok
05/15/1995
USA Today
FINAL
Page 03A
(Copyright 1995)
OKLAHOMA CITY - A California chemist-turned-dishwasher swept up in the
nation's largest manhunt sits in a Phoenix jail today as investigators probe his
possible links to the Oklahoma City bombing.
Steven Garrett Colbern, 35, was arrested Friday after a scuffle with federal
agents in a northwest Arizona tourist town on 1994 federal firearms and fugitive
charges.
Federal officials say Colbern told them he knew Timothy McVeigh, 27, one of
two men charged in the April 19 explosion, but only by the alias of "Tim Tuttle."
Officials are downplaying the possibility Colbern could be the elusive "John Doe
No. 2."
"Doe 2" is reported to have been with McVeigh when he rented a truck that
authorities say was used in the bombing.
"When I looked down at him, I said, `My God, that's John Doe No. 2,' " said
Anita Armstrong, a fire department lieutenant who witnessed the arrest in
Oatman, Ariz., a town of 140 people. "He looked like the composite sketch."
Officials said that may not be the case, but they're investigating coincidences:
-- Colbern, described as a quiet, intelligent gun enthusiast who liked to wear
military fatigues, was anti-government, according to some who knew him in
Oatman.
"He'd make remarks about how we're losing our freedom, we're going into
socialism," says Derrell Warren, 56, who manages a hotel in Oatman. "And I did
hear him make (an admiring) remark about the Third Reich."
-- He also has used the same mail service as McVeigh, says Lynda Willoughby,
who manages The Mail Room in Kingman, Ariz. But McVeigh used the service
recently, while Colbern did so years ago, she says.
-- A brown pickup truck was found outside a trailer in Bullhead City, Ariz.,
where Colbern sometimes lived.
A motorist told officials that when McVeigh was stopped by a trooper shortly
after the bombing, he saw a brown pickup stop; the driver appeared to look back
at McVeigh.
-- Colbern is said to have been adept at making bombs of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer and fuel oil, the same ingredients used in Oklahoma City.
-- One of Colbern's three roommates in Oatman, Dennis Kemp Malzac, 37, was
arrested Friday in connection with a Feb. 21 explosion at a home outside
Kingman in Mohave County, Ariz., officials said.
James Zack, chief deputy county attorney, said McVeigh was not connected to
that blast.
That bomb was made of fertilizer and fuel. Officials say they are looking into the
explosion as a possible practice run for Oklahoma City.
-- Investigators also say they have a letter from McVeigh addressed to "S.C." --
possibly Steven Colbern.
The firearms charge against Colbern stems from a July 20 traffic stop in Upland,
Calif. Police found an assault rifle, two loaded handguns, a silencer, a knife, a
device to convert weapons to automatics and a home video showing what
appeared to be an illegal .50-caliber Browning machine gun, according to court
documents.
During that arrest, Colbern struggled, leading to a charge of battery on a police
officer, says Richard Maxwell, chief deputy district attorney for San Bernardino
County.
Authorities searched Colbern's trailer before dawn Saturday, finding firearms, lab
parts linked to the manufacture of an illegal drug -- methamphetamine -- and belt
ammunition for a machine gun.
Both McVeigh and the other suspect charged in the bombing, Terry Nichols, 40,
were said to have been fascinated with weapons, as were the Michigan civilian
militia groups both were interested in.
Colbern, who had a chemistry degree from the University of California at Los
Angeles, apparently had drifted between Arizona and California after holding a
chemist's job in Los Angeles. When he was arrested, he was working as a
dishwasher and cook at an Oatman restaurant and bar.
Contributing: Jonathan T. Lovitt in California
PHOTO,b/w,By Jack Piercy,AP; PHOTO,b/w,FBI via AP