A body shop owner identified Timothy McVeigh on Friday as the man who rented the 20-foot yellow Ryder truck that authorities say was used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Eldon Elliott said McVeigh walked into his body shop in Junction City, Kan., two days before the bombing and picked up the truck that cost $280.32 to rent. He gave his name as Robert Kling and turned down the insurance, saying: "I'm a good driver."Elliott recalled sending McVeigh off by saying, "Have a safe trip."
Asked by prosecutor Scott Mendeloff to look around the courtroom for the man, Elliott pointed at McVeigh and said, "Right over there. Blue shirt."
McVeigh, sitting at the defense table, was wearing a blue dress shirt. He showed no reaction.
In cross-examination, Elliott stood by his story even as McVeigh attorney Stephen Jones confronted him with earlier statements that put the height of the man he saw at 5 foot 10 inches or 5 foot 11 inches. McVeigh is 6 feet 1/2 inch tall.
Elliott said he may have underestimated McVeigh's height because McVeigh was leaning against a counter. Elliott also said he was emotionally rattled in the days after the bombing because of the flurry of activity at his shop.
"I was just shook up about this," Elliott said.
Jones also brought up the mysterious John Doe No. 2, a man said to have been with McVeigh when he rented the truck. Elliott said he remembered there was a second man but didn't pay much attention to him.