Andreas Strassmeir
Andreas Karl Straßmeir | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 17, 1959[1] |
| Nationality | German |
| Other names | |
| Occupation | West German Infantry Officer (formerly) |
Andreas Carl Strassmeir[5][6] (born May 17, 1959) is a German national[7] and the former head-of-security for the white separatist community of Elohim City, Oklahoma. He gained media attention for his alleged connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing and has become an important figure in its conspiracy theories.[8][9][10][11]
Early life
[edit]Strassmeir was the son of Günter Straßmeir, the Chief of Staff to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.[12][13]
Strassmeir studied at a military university in Hamburg, and then went on to serve in the German Army in 1979. His military service lasted for a total of five years.[14]
Time in the U.S.
[edit]After resigning from the British Welsh Guard, Strassmeir moved to Washington, D.C. to pursue a career within the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Strassmeir himself, he had hoped to work for the operations section of the Drug Enforcement Administration.[14] His efforts to obtain a career within the federal government were aided by Vincent Petruskie, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who had apparently met Strassmeir's father while he (Petruskie) was stationed in Berlin. In interviews, Strassmeir has referred to Vincent Petruskie as "a former CIA guy my father had known".[15] Petruskie confirms that he had assisted Andreas Strassmeir in finding such a job, but denies having any connection to the CIA.
Strassmeir moved to Houston, Texas, in 1986 where he started working as a salesman for a computer company.[16] During this time, he became involved with the Texas Light Infantry militia before eventually getting expelled due to speculation from members that Strassmeir was a government agent.[14][17] Afterwards, he became active in right wing and neo-Nazi circles where he eventually met his future attorney, Kirk Lyons.[citation needed]
Andreas Strassmeir was also reported to have spent some time in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he obtained a state drivers license. According to Ray Woodruff, a landlord of Strassmeir's, he rented a 1,300-square-foot house located at 7613 Thorngrove Pike but never lived in it.[18][19]
Elohim City
[edit]In 1991, Kirk Lyons introduced Andreas Strassmeir to Elohim City - a white separatist community in Oklahoma. A year later, Strassmeir moved there and became the chief of security and weapons training.[14] According to Lyons, Strassmeir hoped to marry an Elohim City woman and gain permanent resident status in the United States.
During this time, he struck a friendship with Michael William Brescia, a member of the Aryan Republican Army. The two shared a room together on the compound.[14]
While working as a confidential informant (CI) for the ATF, Elohim City resident, Carol Howe informed her agency handler about Andreas Strassmeir and how he would frequently talk about "blowing up federal buildings" and using "direct action against the U.S. Government".[20] At the time, Carol Howe was unaware of Strassmeir's full name, and simply knew him as "Andy the German".
After the OKC Bombing, Strassmeir fled the compound with fellow Elohim City residents Pete and Tony Ward.[21]
Departure from the United States
[edit]Robert Millar quickly "expelled" Andreas Strassmeier from Elohim City soon after he became aware that the FBI was looking at Strassmeir for possible ties to McVeigh and the bombing.[22]
Notes from a 1997 FBI investigation state that sometime after the bombing, CIA pilot Dave Halloway flew Andreas Strassmer out of the United States.[23] While that same report records that Strassmeir was flown to Berlin, many have speculated that he was instead flown to Mexico.[4] However, in a letter to the McCurtain Gazette from Strassmeir's attorney Kirk Lyons, he says his client's sudden departure from the U.S. was aided by members of Germany's elite counterterrorism unit, GSG 9.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ "PBS - frontline: Documents: Mcveigh chronology". PBS.
- ^ Hammer, David Paul (April 7, 2010). Deadly Secrets. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781452003634.
- ^ "Deadly Secrets (Of the Oklahoma City Bombing and Tim McVeigh) - by David Paul Hammer".
- ^ a b Notice of supplementationbobmccarty.com Archived January 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Last Word: Return of the German".
- ^ "Andreas Strassmeir". IMDb.
- ^ "Former ATF informant ruffles edges of Oklahoma bombing investigation". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- ^ "Andreas Strassmeir". Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- ^ Peter Carlson (March 23, 1997). "IN ALL THE SPECULATION AND SPIN SURROUNDING THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING, JOHN DOE 2 HAS BECOME A LEGEND -- THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN COUNTLESS CONSPIRACY THEORIES THAT ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE HORROR .DID HE EVER REALLY EXIST?". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
- ^ "The Real of Edye-Icon: Edye Smith, the Oklahoma City Bombing, and the Mobilization of Ideologies". June 1999.
- ^ "Jon Ronson on Timothy McVeigh". TheGuardian.com. May 5, 2001.
- ^ ""Stranger from Germany"". Der Spiegel. June 1997.
- ^ Group, Vibe Media (November 1997). "Vibe".
{{cite web}}:|last1=has generic name (help)[permanent dead link] - ^ a b c d e Hamm, Mark S. (2002). In Bad Company: America's Terrorist Underground. UPNE. p. 116. ISBN 9781555534929.
andreas strassmeir.
- ^ Hammer, David Paul (April 7, 2010). Deadly Secrets. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781452003627.
- ^ Höges, Clemens (June 1997). ""Ich bin ein Rebell"". Der Spiegel.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Redirecting to Google Groups".
- ^ "Constitution". Archived from the original on January 6, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
- ^ "The Oklahoma City Bomb Trial: The Denver Post Online".
- ^ a b "Harrison-L-La-tour". www.genealogy.com. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
- ^ "Who's Afraid of Elohim City? | This Land Press - Made by You and Me". thislandpress.com. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
- ^ Notice of supplementatitonbobmccarty.com Archived January 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine