1 of 7. Rich Haskell: Well, as we were talking before we started recording, because of my knowledge with the explosives and with the law enforcement and everything else, I've had many opportunitiesbecause of the explosivesI've been with Vice President Cheney when he was here in Wyoming up in Pinedale. This is not a Mormon film it is more of an inspirational film. Accessed May 28, 2013 at. That dead-man switch is a piece of string that goes around your wrist and it's hooked into a clothespin, the other end of it. Mark Junge: to go through all this? But David refused to reveal his plans entirely until moments before they unfolded. They learned to trust in their God, the kids were healed for the most part, and they value life more now. Rich Haskell: Sure. TC is one of my heroes. Did this shake the faith of some people, or would you say it strengthened it in most? I didn't touch the body at all. David Young. I think it's because of the ages of the kids, to start with. ", All told, 79 of the hostages suffered injuries, mostly second-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries from the exploding bomb. At least 74 people, most of them children, suffered second-degree burns when the bomb went off at about 4 P.M. at the Cokeville Elementary School. Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the community's elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. I didn't look at the speedometer, I was just kind of watchin' for animals and everything else. I mean, okay, you lose the Twin Towers, you might get the Pentagon damaged, but if somebody's town hall or school is blown up in Star Valley [Wyo.] Because it was sittin' low enough and the kids were low enough that it would have done it. I was a little bit nervous, of course. I'd like to think so. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. Well, you know how fine that dust is. As I come to the junctionI'm sorry, I don't know what the road is that goes over to Bear Lakebut as I was passing that intersection, they did inform me that the bomb had exploded. the children began describing things more specifically and that is when the mom was prompted to find the photograph of their grandmother. It was cut. But I walked up to the window and looked inside the window and didn't hardly see anything out of the ordinary except it was all black inside. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. It's a little basket that has different layers on it. In the classroom, David held the gasoline bomb, with the triggering mechanism attached to a string tied around his wrist. Rich Haskell: No, I don't think it exited. The mood did not lift with the singing and teachers quickly negotiated with the hostage takers to get items from the library to help the kids get their minds off the siege,[8] and help to pass the time. And they had practiced how to get out of that building. Totally destroyed it! The kids couldn't have cut it. Two Powell residents, Lenita Moore (a science teacher at Powell High School) and John Miller (a longtime choir director at Powell High School who retired in 2020), remember being in Cokeville during the bombing. P. O. Mark Junge: Which means you had to be doing over a hundred miles an hour! Mark Junge: Yeah, my brother-in-law worked in the Navy as a chief petty officer and he worked with what they called EOD. I had the chance to watch the pre-screening of the film and it was very emotional. During the chaos, Doris' burnt body was expelled through a window, and left lying on the front lawn. There was no give in the school bus. He had just big rings of perspiration. The Cokeville Elementary School was the site of a horrific hostage situation on May 16, 1986 when David and Dorris Young took a homemade bomb inside the school. I did see the lighting had changed in the room, and it was right in the same timeline as everyone else's witness. When you say what cut the wire? Mark Junge: Okay. And we allthere was three of us there. In the tiny classroom, they watched movies, played games, prayed. He was in high fevers until the therapist allowed him to speak openly. It just embedded into the walls from the ammunition from the heat. Twenty-five years ago on Monday, a man and his wife pushed a homemade gasoline bomb into Cokeville's sole elementary school and demanded $300 million in ransom. Sue Castaneda: Carla said that some people were mad that we were there. A new movie is coming out on Friday called "The Cokeville Miracle" that depicts not just this terrible event, but the various miraculous stories that emerged afterward. Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. The Power of Faith: 25 Years After School Bombing, Town Remembers Story of Survival., Mitchell, Ruth Ann. Current students at Cokeville Elementary School aren't taught about the '86 bombing, but most know the general story. I don't know what. Were you portrayed in the movie at all? When I walked inside of the classroomit was a kindergarten classroom which meant that the desks were smaller, everything was smaller because of the smaller children. A Project of the Wyoming Historical Society. I have no doubt about my friends witness testimonies - even though I saw or heard nothing such as they did. Cokeville Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. The device was set up on afor lack of a better word, I call it a shopping cart. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Cheyenne. He knew it was a predominantly Mormon [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] community. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. Then when I became a deputy, Sheriff Stark says, "You know, we're going to start finding a bunch of old explosives, dynamite and things. You know something about bombs. it is VERY LDS, and yet there are at least 3 other churches in town: Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist (and sometimes a non-denominational church). Rich Haskell: Uh, I can understand that. And I think it's made me a stronger person. David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. . I believe a presence was entering the room at about that time. Mark Junge: In fact, didn't you say you burned up your engine? COKEVILLE, Wyo. After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he married Doris Young. You could walk across the street and get run over as far as that's concerned, but I don't know if my wife has any more gray hairs because I've chosen this profession. This allowed gasoline to drip into the tuna fish cans, turning the aluminum-flour mixture into paste, unable to aerosolize. My husband and I are looking forward to seeing the movie, as we weren't around when it happened and have just recently learned about it. Witnesses later testified that just before the explosion David Young had connected the explosive to his wife. Kind of a synopsis of what they were going to do and what their plans were and the whole thing. A quarter of a century later, Williams can still vividly recall the chaotic scene following the explosion. That's a true line in the movie. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Then he went to the restroom, which was attached to the classroom. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Why? She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Mark Junge: One of the things that Sue and I found out is that people don't regret doing this because they think it's important for history. (Laughs) Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but it was. I actually have a pretty clear memory of the events that day, being 12 years old. May 24, 1986 12 AM PT. Rich Haskell: I am. When did Cokeville miracle happen? It was not a teacher, but her ancestor. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. When the thing went off, when the bomb exploded, they just started chuckin' people out the windows. Cokeville Public Library. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. Ronald DeFeo Jr., the convicted killer whose 1974 murders spawned the "Amityville Horror" franchise, died last week while serving a 25 years-to-life prison term, officials said Monday . Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized.~Transcribed by Russ Sherwin, Feb. 27, 2011. Don't go past this square. You went back home? That's what David Young forgot to realize just how important families were. Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! It was just shootin' everywhere. Mark Junge: And your great-grandkids? Jessica Clark, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history and political science at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyo. Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis, "Radical Right Link Suggested in Hostage Case", "Cokeville Elementary School Bombing | WyoHistory.org", "Couple take over school but die after bomb blast", "Couple in School Blast Linked to Extremist Group", "Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "A projectile killed Dorris Young, not bomb blast, police in Cokeville say", "In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School", "Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Liberty Point International Middle School, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens", List of school shootings in the United States by death toll, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis&oldid=1139490391, Improvised explosive device bombings in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 11:55. It's made me, I think, more open-minded to things and don't take so much for granted anymore. Had a small pin-hole leak in it and it dripped into both containers and they both became paste. When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. I was, and I still am, a certified bomb technician at the time, and I was, as far as I know, the only bomb technician in the southern half of the state of Wyoming. Mark Junge: Do you still think about this? Healing will come Slowly From Within a Wounded Cokeville. The story was also featured on Unsolved Mysteries, Unexplained Mysteries, and I Survived A movie about the incident, The Cokeville Miracle, was made by filmmaker T. C. Christensen and released on June 5, 2015. Students, teachers, staff and visitors frantically exited the building, with teachers helping many of the children escape through the windows. Rich Haskell: Approximately an hour and ten, hour and fifteen minutes.