When Jennifer McVeigh flew home to Buffalo, N.Y., after a Florida vacation - shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing - she was met at the airport by FBI agents who wanted her to turn on her brother.
"They told me that he was guilty," she said. "He was going to fry."Under cross-examination Tuesday, the 23-year-old woman broke down and cried for the first time in her two-day testimony as she recalled those eight days of interrogation.
At first, she said, she tried to cover up for Timothy McVeigh but then admitted that he had sent her chilling warnings that "something big" was about to happen.
Prosecutors contend that McVeigh is responsible for a truck bomb that exploded on April 19, 1995, outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500 in the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
McVeigh could get the death penalty if convicted of murder and conspiracy charges.
When his sister entered the courtroom Tuesday, she smiled broadly at him and mouthed "Good morning." He smiled back.
She then went on to testify about being questioned by the FBI in a room plastered with poster-sized pictures of herself and her brother, along with a listing of the possible charges against them.
"They had big posters on the wall all over the room," she said, breaking into tears.