Conspiracy Buffs See Similarities
Between Jose Padilla, John Doe 2

Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy, Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln, and Terry Lynn Nichols had a wife named Padilla.

The latter bit of news has put conspiracy theorists on heightened alert.

For years, a small, devoted group has been trying to prove that the nation's second-deadliest terrorist attack -- on the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City -- was carried out not just by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols but also by a vast network of Muslim extremists.

Such claims won little attention, and even ardent advocates say they had all but given up the cause. But when Jose Padilla was accused of plotting to detonate a so-called dirty bomb and his photo appeared in newspapers and on television, members of a hard-core group of conspiracy theorists did double-takes.

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"I thought, boy, he looks a lot like the John Doe 2 sketches," said Charles Key, a former state representative from Oklahoma who leads a private group called the Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee.

The FBI, which isn't taking these claims seriously, now says that John Doe 2 probably never existed. But he was once a prime suspect in the April 19, 1995, bombing when a Ryder truck filled with nearly 5,000 pounds of fertilizer and fuel oil blew up, killing 168 people.

Witnesses at the time said they remembered seeing two men at the Ryder truck-rental outlet in Junction City, Kan., where investigators traced the rented vehicle. Two men were also reportedly seen eating at a Denny's restaurant in Junction City five days before the attack. One of the men is believed to have been Mr. McVeigh. The other was never identified and never found.

John Doe 2 was the subject of an intensive manhunt. Authorities offered a $2 million reward on his head. The FBI described him as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10. His sketch, released by the FBI the day after the bombing, shows dark hair swept straight back, strong eyebrows, a square jaw and a powerful neck. Mr. Padilla, who is Hispanic, appears to have a more rounded jaw, but his other features closely match those of the sketch.

FBI sketch of John Doe 2 (top); Jose Padilla

Still, FBI officials dismiss talk of any likeness. "We couldn't find any evidence to indicate there was a John Doe 2 despite what people were saying," said one FBI official. As for the Padilla link, he said, "You're kidding, right?"

Bryan Preston, a writer and TV producer in Towson, Md., was watching a call-in news show last week when a caller mentioned a resemblance between Mr. Padilla and John Doe 2. Mr. Preston dug up the old police sketch of John Doe 2 and posted it on his personal Web site. "I've never bought into conspiracy theories," Mr. Preston says, "but I can't help but thinking maybe there's more to the story here."

Since Mr. Padilla's arrest, others who suspect a connection have scoured the Internet, books about the bombing and media reports about Mr. Padilla for clues linking him to the Oklahoma City bombing. For some, the fact that Mr. Padilla, born in New York and raised in Chicago, appears to have been in the U.S. and out of jail at the time of the bombing is enough cause for suspicion. Some say they just don't believe Messrs. McVeigh and Nichols acted alone.

Mr. Key says members of his committee will soon begin asking witnesses who say they saw John Doe 2 to look at photos of Mr. Padilla. American Politics Journal posted the sketch and photos of Padilla to their Web site without comment. A spokesman for the political journal said the publication had no official position on the question, but placed the photos and sketches on their site for readers to draw their own conclusions.

In Tampa, Fla., radio talk-show host Glenn Beck noted the resemblance on his show last week and posted a story about it at his Web site asking listeners if they think Mr. Padilla could have been involved with the Oklahoma City bombing. Almost 70% said yes.

Stephen R. Jones, Mr. McVeigh's attorney, has spoken often of his attempts to prove his client was part of a broader conspiracy, although Mr. McVeigh himself denied it. While preparing their case, members of Mr. Jones's team traveled several times to the Philippines, where Mr. Nichols had visited, to research possible contacts he may have had with foreign terrorists, including associates of Osama bin Laden.

Mr. Jones says his client didn't cooperate in that investigation but that Mr. McVeigh was so adamant in refusing to point fingers that it raised Mr. Jones's suspicions. After his conviction, Mr. McVeigh reportedly told authors researching a book about the bombing that he planted the explosives to teach the government a lesson. Mr. McVeigh, who was executed on June 11, 2001, never named accomplices.

Then there's the detail that so tantalizes many conspiracy theorists: Lana Padilla is the former wife of Mr. Nichols, charged as Mr. McVeigh's accomplice and sentenced to life in prison.

Ms. Padilla laughed when a local television talk show called to ask her about the matching names. She says she's never met Jose Padilla and isn't related to him.

But she, too, believes there was a larger conspiracy at work. After the bombing, she gave police a letter she received in 1994 from Mr. Nichols before one of his trips to the Philippines. In the letter, she says, he suggested he was "afraid of something or somebody." Ms. Padilla speculates he was worried he might be harmed if he identified his co-conspirators.

The more she looks at the mug shots, the more intrigued she becomes. "At first I found it funny," she says. "Now I think we should investigate this."