One witness spotted Timothy McVeigh driving a rental truck toward the federal building. Another saw him minutes later, speeding away in a car just before an explosion ripped through the building.
The alleged sightings, and those of several other witnesses, are part of what a U.S. magistrate called "an indelible trail of evidence" against the only person charged so far with the deadly April 19 bombing.A manhunt continued Friday for a second suspect, known only as "John Doe No. 2" - who authorities fear may bomb again.
At a hearing Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Ronald Howland found sufficient evidence to hold McVeigh without bail pending a trial. A grand jury will be asked to return an indictment. McVeigh, 27, is charged under a federal anti-terrorism statute that carries the death penalty.
"I could not imagine a more heinous offense than this," federal prosecutor Merrick Garland told Howland.
The death toll still stood at 110, including 15 children killed in the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
At the building, a firefighter and an FBI agent sustained minor injuries overnight, and a major part of the search was called off after a slab of concrete broke loose and slid into the area that held a Social Security office and day-care center, Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen said.
Hansen did not know when the search could continue in the area known as "the pit," where fire-fighters expect to find many bodies. Authorities had expected to have all the bodies out by early next week, but Hansen said that may no longer be possible because of the delay.
During McVeigh's preliminary hearing, FBI Special Agent John Hersley testified for four hours, describing accounts of several witnesses. He also testified that authorities fear John Doe 2 may strike again.
The success of the manhunt may hinge on Arizona license plate LZC646.
When McVeigh was stopped by a state trooper less than 90 minutes after the explosion, his yellow Mercury Marquis was missing the plate. The FBI is still looking for the plate, said Special Agent Weldon Kennedy, who is in charge of the investigation.
Investigators have recovered a videotape showing that the "plate was on a vehicle in Oklahoma City before the blast," according to a federal law enforcement source in Washington.
Why would it be useful now? "It might be on the ground," and the location might help pinpoint an escape route leading to John Doe 2, the source said. The plate also could have been switched to a second getaway car used by John Doe 2, the source said.
The source said there has been no reliable sighting of John Doe 2 since the explosion.
Arizona records show the plate belongs to a 1983 Pontiac station wagon that McVeigh registered in that state in February. McVeigh lived in a trailer park outside Kingman, Ariz., from June through September 1993. He continued to pick up mail at a private postal company as recently as early this month.
Michigan records show he bought the Pontiac for $100 in January from his friend James Douglas Nichols.
Nichols and his brother, Terry, are being held as material witnesses. They have been charged in Michigan with conspiring with McVeigh to build and detonate homemade bombs at James Nichols' farm.
The Nichols brothers are not charged in the Oklahoma bombing, and McVeigh is not charged in Michigan. James Nichols was to return to court Friday afternoon for a hearing on whether he should be released on bond.
Meanwhile, sources told The Associated Press Friday that friends of McVeigh's sister Jennifer remembered her making statements earlier this year to the effect that "something big is going to happen in March or April and Tim's involved." The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that based on that statement, investigators were probing whether Jennifer McVeigh, 21, knew of the bombing conspiracy.
The Army also conducted an inventory at Fort Riley, Kan., where McVeigh once served and found no blasting caps, explosives or detonator devices missing. Maj. Ben Santos said the 60mm anti-tank rocket confiscated at the Her-ing-ton, Kan., home of Terry Nichols, who also served at Fort Riley, is an old model not in use at the fort.
McVeigh began his defense Thursday looking more like an awkward teenager fresh out of gym class than a man accused of committing the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
He wore a wrinkled white T-shirt, khaki pants, blue canvas sneakers and arm shackles for the hearing at the El Reno Federal Correctional Facility, about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City.
The hearing was held in the prison visitors' room because the blast damaged the federal courthouse in downtown Oklahoma City.
McVeigh listened intently, showing little emotion but becoming more animated as the hearing wore on.
The FBI's Hersley testified that traces of detonator cord were found on the clothing McVeigh wore when he was pulled over for the missing license plate.
He also said a parking meter tender told the FBI she saw McVeigh driving a rental truck toward her in the direction of the building shortly before the blast. The truck was moving slowly enough that she thought the driver was going to stop and ask directions.
A few minutes later, a man said he saw McVeigh and another man speeding away in a yellow Mercury, "obviously in an effort to avoid the bomb blast," Hersley said.