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A listener note, this episode contains graphic details and may not be suitable for a younger audience.

It's the morning of April 19, 1995 in Perry, Oklahoma. At the front desk of the Noble County jail, Marsha Moritz

stares up at a TV trying to make sense of the news coming out of downtown Oklahoma City.

There are reports of an explosion at the Murrah Federal Building. The nine-story structure is now a smoking

tangle of rebar and debris and nearly half the building is gone. The newscaster reports that there was a daycare inside the

Federal Building and at this point it's only a matter of time before they learn how many children died in the blast.

Moritz wipes her eyes, forcing herself to look away from the sights of carnage and horror.

She works here at this county jail, which is only 60 miles from the sight of the explosion.

And she can't believe something like this could have happened in her own backyard.

But Moritz also knows that when she's on the job, she has to maintain her composure. She can't let any of the prisoners see her crying.

So Moritz tries to tune out the news on the television set. But as she gets back to a stack of paperwork, the door to the jail suddenly swings open.

A highway patrol officer walks in escorting a tall young man with a military-style brush cut.

The officer explains that he pulled this guy over for driving without a license plate. But he also found the man was he legally carrying a firearm.

Nothing major, but he has to be booked. Moritz looks to prisoner up and down.

And there's something about him. He seems cold and emotionless, like something human about him is missing.

So Moritz gets curious about this guy's backstory. Why his expression is so vacant? Who is this man deep inside?

But Moritz is a jailer, not a therapist. She just needs to book the new guy in and get him into a cell.

Moritz taps a few keys on her keyboard and waves the prisoner forward.

Full name? Timothy James McVeigh? Data birth? April 23rd, 1968? Who should I put down as emergency contact?

McVeigh pauses, seeming to avoid the question.

Sir, we need someone to contact in case you get sick or something else happens while you're in custody.

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