You can't think, well, maybe something could happen, because yes it could. Mark Junge: With bombs? How has that experience shaped your life? Mark Junge: They weren't big enough, in a way. Mark Junge: And when you went into the classroom you saw holes in the walls? The blasting cap in the gasoline jug functioned properly, initiating the explosion. People who had guns! Rich Haskell: It's a combustible. David emerged from the bathroom to find his wife in excruciating pain. The first chapter is titled A Town of Trust.. At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. And afteryou look in there and you could see little pockmarks all through on the walls, and after we finished with our investigationit took us three days to totally do the whole entire sceneyou could tell where those pockmarks were bullets from the heat had gone off. Mark Junge: That's a record of all the people we've talked to! Whenever they would come to Wyoming I would be part of their security team. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47,[1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. Throughout the standoff, David grew increasingly agitated and irritable. Number one, that's where he worked. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47, [1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he married Doris Young. Well, after interviewing some of the people, what had happened, the bombDavid Young had set the bomb to have what they call a dead-man switch. You went back home? I think you should know that it can be difficult to watch - but that it has a very rewarding outcome. You start messing with the kids, now you're going to have yourself a war. Immediately following the detonation, the teachers started to shove children into the hallway, and through two open windows onto the grass outside the school, causing chaos as panicked parents tried to break through police lines. Cook, the school's secretary and the first person taken hostage, could tell Young's threats were serious. Just before implementing the Biggie, David Young had also sent a copy of the document to President Ronald Reagan, the president of Chadron State College and numerous media outlets. The Youngs both died that day. I do think the key is talking about it often and early. I've spent many, many hours and many days with the leaders of the Mormon church, with the Prophet of the Mormon church. Well, when I arrived at Cokeville, of course they had the roads all blocked off and there was not a lot of people around the school at the time. I've got to get back to work now! COKEVILLE, Wyo. 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. Rich Haskell: Yes, I did. They have a lot of first-person histories of the actual event, teachers, investigators and students. And I think that these people actually thought that they could start another world. It just embedded into the walls from the ammunition from the heat. [7][5] The reason for the wire cuts are so far unexplained. With the explosionwhat occurred? He was asking large amounts of money. And I think it's made me a stronger person. I actually created a website knowing that people would wonder what was real and what wasn't. It is a touchy topic for us, and could come across the wrong way. When you say what cut the wire? 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. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. She's an avid genealogist, so maybe get involved with that, and maybe go on a mission for the church. Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! Cokeville Bombing. Undated scrapbook. So you got that and you got the flour and the gasoline and that's what it was all designed to do in millisecond delays. Rich Haskell: Yes. I never did get to see that untilI think it was two days lateractually what they had taken as far as the paperwork was concerned. Mark Junge: to go through all this? 154 of us were held hostage for almost 3 hours in a 30x32 room when the bomb actually detonated - all 154 hostages survived. You HAVE to find the positives or the negatives can eat you up the rest of your life. Now this is just for my own information and it doesn't have anything to do with this case, but whenever I read about a bomb threat in the paper, I think to myself, "Oh, no! She is one of the survivors whose story has become a part of The Cokeville Miracle. Unexplained Mysteries: Angel Files. Season 1, Episode 20. David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? Rich Haskell: The bullet in him was in the bathroom. He still needed to tell it to his parents though, and that's basically what you see in the movie. I know it is real. In the meantime, David and Doris Young gathered children, teachers, staff and visitors in the elementary school into one central location. Rich Haskell: Absolutely! Mark Junge: Are you one of the most experienced people in the area? But shortly after entering the school, Princess decided to rebel. Mark Junge: Where at? It brings back lots of memories but it doesn't hurt because actually it was a positive experience. He used to work in Cokeville. In what many have since labeled a miracle, all of the 154 children and educators held hostage for three hours at their Cokeville, Wyoming, school lived, though many were injured. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Cheyenne. When I looked at everyone looking at me (as if I should call on someone to say it) I realized I should call on Allyson Cornia - literally because she was the smartest kid in the class! I mean, not everybody would do this. She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. And that's where the bomb sat and that's where they sat. (Laughs) Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but it was. Well, with the window being open, with the ceiling tiles being able to lift up and down, I think that absorbed a lot of the explosion of the gasoline bottle. There was no give in the school bus. There are a select number of people that would do this, so thank you. They increasingly spoke about their memories in public with professional psychologists, church officials and community counselors. Dozens. And he had to defuse bombs. [5] The wooden piece was tied to Doris' wrist by a string. In 2006, the Cokeville Miracle Foundation compiled a book of recollections about the day from parents, emergency workers and former hostages. She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. Mark Junge: Well, I want you to know that we think you're courageous for doing this with us. Hi, I am working on publicity for the film, and I will chime in if anyone needs it, or has other questions. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. Where's he running? Rich Haskell: I am. You know their names but not their birthdays. In the movie, it shows the tension building towards the prayer and then shortly after the bomb went off. Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. He listened so well, so patiently. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community; he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy." Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? You can also read about it on [Wikipedia] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis). It's just something that you just have to stay on top of. Once all the hostages were contained in the first grade classroom, David Young informed them that they were leading a revolution and distributed copies of his philosophy Zero Equals Infinity to everyone present. I really did not even want to walk inside that building because I was just afraid that I'd see kids all over the place. You can ask me anything about this today between 1-2pm. I saw an early screening of the film and absolutely loved it. No need to troll. ", Mark Junge: So it took you three days, three and a half days. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. The two died after the bomb. Rich Haskell: I did not. Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. Did this shake the faith of some people, or would you say it strengthened it in most? My name is Mark Junge and I'm here at the Hiltonis it the Hilton Hotel? ", About 2 1/2 hours into the standoff, David transferred the triggering mechanism of the bomb to Doris' wrist, and went to a small bathroom that connected the first and second grade rooms. David Young had initially planned to involve longtime friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who had invested money with him in a get-rich-quick scheme that he had called "The Biggie. Also, how long was it before the kids started talking about seeing angels? I'm currently the Sheriff of Sweetwater County. Audio/Video Recording. Debbie Sparks and Steven Moore, both EMTs, discuss on May 9 the elementary school bombing. Mark Junge: Had you seen anything like what took place in this classroom before? You can see what's happening in the world today. May 24, 1986 12 AM PT. When the children became increasingly loud, Doris Young began begging the teachers to settle the group down. And you could see that she had been burning by just looking at her out on the front lawn. Sue Castaneda: Where did you get your training for that? Following the explosion, 79 children were taken to area hospitals, most of which were located more than an hours drive from Cokeville, for treatment for burns and smoke inhalation. Who died in the Cokeville bombing? Rich Haskell: Uh, I can understand that. I went from within two feet of the bomb to right near the door within ten minutes before the bomb went off. David Young was the only police officer in Cokeville for six months in 1979. So we took the tiles off and went up into the ceiling and crawled up into the upper space up there and found a .45 slug up embedded into the iron girders up in the wall, and thought, okay, where did that come from? Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. It was perfect! Lenita's father Rocky was a fifth grade teacher at Cokeville Elementary School at the time of the bombing, Lenita was a seventh grader. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School Published: November 8, 2014 Janel Dayton, Wyoming State Archives photo. But it didn't. But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there. Had a small pin-hole leak in it and it dripped into both containers and they both became paste. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. Mark Junge: Do you know the names and birthdates of all your grandchildren? Survivors shared their stories with each other, investigators, family members, and hospital personnel. [6] With permission, the teachers brought in books, art supplies and a television to help keep the children occupied. Rich Haskell: Approximately an hour and ten, hour and fifteen minutes. I'd like to think so. Mark Junge: Yeah, my brother-in-law worked in the Navy as a chief petty officer and he worked with what they called EOD. All the kids were saved. Returning, David Young shot his wife, then himself. I can't explain it. The children and adults escaped after the bomb exploded. where there's only a limited population, that's going to throw the fear of God into everybody. Anything? In a May 16, 1986 photo, the body of Doris Young is removed by officials after the Cokeville Elementary hostage situation in Cokeville, Wyo. Why? Cokeville Public Library. Doris tried numerous times to calm the children by telling them to "think of it as an adventure movie," or that they "would have a great story to tell their grandchildren." I was frightened and felt that we needed to do something to try to calm down or to be careful, because he was so agitated. For instance, The Cokeville Miracle Foundations 2005 book Witness to Miracles: Remembering the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing and the Wyoming State Archives oral history project called Survivor is My Name both focused on the reconstructing of this narrative as a miracle instead of a tragedy. TC (the director) also worked incredibly hard to make this a story that can be widely appreciated by members of all faiths. Students, teachers, staff and visitors frantically exited the building, with teachers helping many of the children escape through the windows. I called back to my dispatcher and they did inform me that the school in Cokeville was being held hostage by two individuals and there was bombs involved. I don't think that they were planningor David was planning on the ceiling tiles in the school. 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. 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. The bomb did detonate and fire, thick black smoke and toxi fumes filled the room. Rich Haskell: No, I don't think it exited. 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. Cokeville Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. My name is Kamron Wixom, I was a 12 year old 6th grader in 1986 when a mad man took over my school (Cokeville Elementary) with a bomb and his guns. It was suggested we say a group prayer and I thought it was a great idea, so I helped gather a group of us together. And I didn't know about the angel thing comin' to the kids until many days later. And then he shot himself. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. Mark Junge: They don't want it brought up again. They did a good job telling this story. By Jamie Armstrong May 22, 2015 09:35 AM MDT. "If you can see the bomb, the bomb can see you," an officer shouted. 96 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from J.Cano: Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode We figured that he had dropped down on his knee, took his pistol and shot her to put her out of her misery, because when we went out and looked at her, there was a hole up through the bottom of her chin, and it came out the top of her head.