1995 Palo Verde, Arizona, derailment

Railway accident caused by sabotage September 2010 June 2025 April 2018 Palo Verde derailment Palo Verde, Arizona Amtrak Sunset Limited 1995 10 09 Sunset Limited Derailment.jpg Train derailment caused by sabotage 1 78 Unknown Potentially retaliation for the Waco Siege The 1995 Palo Verde derailment took place on October 9, 1995, when Amtrak's Sunset Limited was derailed by terrorists near Palo Verde, Arizona on Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. Two locomotives, Amtrak GE P32-8BWH #511 leading and EMD F40PHR #398 trailing, and eight of twelve cars derailed, four of them falling 30 feet (9 m) off a trestle bridge into a dry river bed.Labaton Stephen October 11, 1995 F.B.I. Studies Note for Clues On Derailment https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/11/us/fbi-studies-note-for-clues-on-derailment.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20231118204507/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/11/us/fbi-studies-note-for-clues-on-derailment.html 18 November 2023 November 27, 2011 The New York Times Mitchell Bates, a sleeping car attendant, was killed. Seventy-eight people were injured, 12 of them seriously and 25 were hospitalized. Incident thumb|The site of the derailment in 2013. The large gouge in the embankment was created by the impact of the train. Four typewritten notes, attacking the ATF and the FBI for the 1993 Waco Siege, criticizing local law enforcement, and signed "Sons of the Gestapo", were found near the scene of the wreck, indicating that notes had been left nearby.1995-10-14 The Text; Derailment Letter https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/14/us/the-text-derailment-letter.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20160610031133/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/14/us/the-text-derailment-letter.html 10 June 2016 2024-04-05 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 All four notes were identical, and read: Indictment of the ATF and FBI: Before dawn the women awoke to say their morning prayers. The women slept upstairs. They lit their kerosene lamps because the electricity had been turned off by the FBI. After observing lights in all the upstairs windows, the FBI ordered the teargas bombardment. Afterwards, only two upstairs windows were lit. The location of each was recorded. Over the next few hours ventilation holes were poked in the walls. These holes made the fire burn very much faster. Otherwise the fire department would have had time to put out the fire before the women and children died in the flames. At noon, the light from the two kerosene lamps was obscured by bright sunlight. Everyone had forgotten about them except the man who carried their locations written on a scrap of paper in his pocket. He ordered the tank drivers where to crash through. Guess under which two windows. He ordered them to raise their guns, as they backed out, the guns were lowered. The video tape shows clearly the floor being raised by the (word unintelligible) a foot and a half. Guess what happened to the kerosene lamps in (word unintelligible) rooms above the tanks. A minute afterwards, black smoke started to pour out of the windows where the lamps had burned. This is the normal time needed for a kerosene fire to build up. Who is policing the ATF, FBI, state troopers, county sheriffs and local police? What federal law enforcement agency investigates each and every choke hold killing committed by a police officer? Each and every beating of a drunk wether (sic) or not a passerby videotapes it? Each and every shooting of a police officer's wife who knows too much about drug kickbacks? Each and every killing at Ruby Ridge? The Gestapo accounts to no one. This is not Nazi Germany. All these people had rights. It is time for an independent federal agency to police the law enforcement agencies and other government employees. Sons of the Gestapo SOG.1995-10-14 The Text; Derailment Letter https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/14/us/the-text-derailment-letter.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20160610031133/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/14/us/the-text-derailment-letter.html 10 June 2016 2024-04-05 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 One of the notes was found by Neal Hallford,Hajek Danny 12 April 2015 20 Years Later, Sabotage Of Amtrak's Sunset Limited Still A Mystery https://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/399159965/20-years-later-sabotage-of-amtraks-sunset-limited-still-a-mystery live https://web.archive.org/web/20240322060547/https://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/399159965/20-years-later-sabotage-of-amtraks-sunset-limited-still-a-mystery 22 March 2024 5 April 2024 NPRStapleton Erica 2020-10-09 25 years later: Deadly Sunset Limited train derailment attack remains a mystery https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/25-years-later-deadly-sunset-limited-train-derailment-attack-still-a-mystery/75-7b3425b8-0dac-4c34-96d7-4e72468ea66a live https://web.archive.org/web/20230604203504/https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/25-years-later-deadly-sunset-limited-train-derailment-attack-still-a-mystery/75-7b3425b8-0dac-4c34-96d7-4e72468ea66a 4 June 2023 2024-04-05 12 News en-UShttps://www.amazon.com/The-Derailment-Sunset-Limited-ebook/dp/B00704JP6Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330814022&sr=8-1 The Derailment of the Sunset Limited Hallford Neal January 20, 2012 January 20, 2012 Swords & Circuitry Non-Fiction a passenger traveling from Oklahoma to San Diego. It was found that the rails had been shifted out of position to cause the derailment, but only after they had been connected with wires. This kept the track circuit closed, circumventing safety systems designed to warn locomotive engineers of track problems, and suggested that the saboteurs had a working knowledge of railroads. The attack was likened to the 1939 wreck of the City of San Francisco, in which a similar method killed 24 people.October 11, 1995 56 Years Ago, A Similar Crash https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/11/us/56-years-ago-a-similar-crash.html https://web.archive.org/web/20221111053158/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/11/us/56-years-ago-a-similar-crash.html 11 November 2022 November 27, 2011 The New York Times Following the incident, Amtrak President Thomas Downs told CNN that improved monitoring and security measures have greatly reduced the chances of a similar incident.Hill Jim 10 October 1995 Sabotage suspected in 'terrorist' derailment http://www.cnn.com/US/9510/amtrak/10-10/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20231215195623/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9510/amtrak/10-10/ 15 December 2023 2020-03-22 CNN After 1996, the Sunset Limited was rerouted to south of Phoenix (approaching no closer than Maricopa) due to the desire of Union Pacific to abandon this stretch of track for its through trains between southern New Mexico and southern California.Johnston Bob 2024-02-27 FRA releases long-distance study interim report, invites comments https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/fra-releases-long-distance-study-interim-report-invites-comments/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20240229024119/https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/fra-releases-long-distance-study-interim-report-invites-comments/ 29 February 2024 2024-03-02 Trains en-US The section of track, now known as the Roll Industrial Lead of the Phoenix Subdivision, on which the derailment took place is now used as storage track only.April 2025 Media coverage The cause of this wreck has been explored in a couple of major documentaries, including: Why Trains Crash: Blood on the Tracks, “Investigative Reports: Danger on the Rails” and Derailed: America's Worst Train Wrecks. It has also been featured on the May 10, 1996, episode of Unsolved Mysteries.https://unsolved.com/gallery/amtrak-crash/ Amtrak Crash Unsolved Mysteries April 24, 2018 and Parcasts’ Conspiracy Theories podcast on Spotify on April 17, 2024. Investigation The case received a "major case" investigation dubbed SPLITRAIL and remains officially unsolved.FBI: progress made in train crash probe https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/10/11/FBI-progress-made-in-train-crash-probe/7378813384000/ The FBI dispatched 90 agents to the crime scene, many of whom were removed from the Kingman investigative branch of the Oklahoma City Bombing investigation. Timothy McVeigh had lived in Kingman with Michael Fortier, who was interviewed in the investigation.William Grigg They'll Be Back: PATCON, Oklahoma City, and Jesse Trentadue's Lonely Crusade for Justice https://libertarianinstitute.org/everything-will/theyll-be-back-patcon-oklahoma-city-and-jesse-trentadues-lonely-crusade-for-justice/ The Libertarian Institute On December 14, 1995, the FBI raided the Val Verde home of a railroad salvage company executive, John Ernest Olin, in connection with the investigation. Olin had business disputes with BNSF and Apache Railway, but the train involved in the derailment was an Amtrak train running on Southern Pacific tracks. Olin denied ever visiting the area of the derailment and was released.Pool Bob Malnic Eric 1995-12-14 FBI Raids Rural Home in Probe of Fatal Arizona Derailment : Investigation: Val Verde man is detained briefly. He reportedly had disputes with two railroads. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-14-mn-13955-story.html 2025-07-26 Los Angeles Times en-US The journalist Will Grigg interviewed an electrical engineer who claimed to have known members of a neo-Nazi drug trafficking syndicate associated with McVeigh in Anaheim. According to the electrical engineer, McVeigh taught his associates how to derail trains, and the derailment was "carried out by some of the people who helped McVeigh build the bomb for Oklahoma City."Grigg William Norman The Feds Role in the OKC Bombing https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/11/william-norman-grigg/the-feds-role-in-the-okc-bombing/ 2025-07-26 LewRockwell en Those associates per journalist Mark S. Hamm were the Aryan Republican Army, who went by the name "King of Kings" and plotted train derailments.Hamm Mark In Bad Company: America's Terrorist Underground 2002 Northeastern University Press xiv, 159 ARA member Richard Guthrie wrote in his memoir that another member, Mark Thomas, wanted to organize the organization into cells, one of which would derail trains.July 2025 In 2003, an FBI Inspector General audit revealed SPLITRAIL ranked the 15th largest case between October 1995 and June 2002.Report No 03-37 https://oig.justice.gov/reports/FBI/a0337/chap7.htm USDOJ Office of the Inspector General On April 10, 2015, the Phoenix office of the FBI announced a reward of $310,000 (US 310000 2015 eq -3) for information about the derailment leading to the capture of those responsible.D'Angelo Alexa 6 April 2015 FBI offers $300K reward 20 years after Arizona train derails http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/04/06/fbi-arizona-train-derailment-abrk/25372511/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20221206041404/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/04/06/fbi-arizona-train-derailment-abrk/25372511/ 6 December 2022 April 10, 2015 azcentral The reward was still outstanding 2020 yes.Gearty Robert 11 October 2020 Sabotage of Amtrak train in Arizona desert remains unsolved 25 years later https://www.foxnews.com/us/sabotage-of-amtrak-train-in-arizona-desert-remains-unsolved-25-years-later live https://web.archive.org/web/20221108154742/https://www.foxnews.com/us/sabotage-of-amtrak-train-in-arizona-desert-remains-unsolved-25-years-later 8 November 2022 11 October 2020 Fox News See also 1990s Arizona List of unsolved murders (1980–1999) Oklahoma City bombing References External links Amtrak – Federal Bureau of Investigation 33.211862 -113.015445 region:US-AZ_type:railwaystation title Category:1995 in Arizona Category:1995 murders in the United States Category:Accidents and incidents involving Amtrak Category:Accidents and incidents involving Southern Pacific Railroad Category:Attacks in the United States in 1995 Category:Derailments in the United States Category:Organized events in Maricopa County, Arizona Category:American terrorism victims Category:October 1995 crimes in the United States Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Arizona Category:Railway accidents in 1995 Category:Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators Category:Terrorist incidents in Arizona Category:Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1995 1995 Palo Verde, Arizona, derailment Category:Unsolved murders in Arizona