Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505080082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY LENGTH: Medium
One of them was at her desk, the other probably standing at a file cabinet when the bomb went off.
Now, both lie entombed under a jumble of huge concrete chunks, the only two victims of the Oklahoma bombing that rescuers couldn't reach.
``They found all of my girls but two,'' said Florence Rogers, their boss at the Federal Employees Credit Union, one of the offices devastated in the bombing of the federal building here.
After 16 heartbreaking days, search efforts were called off Friday for fear part of the building would fall down on rescuers' heads.
``To the best of our ability, we have tried to turn over every stone we possibly could that the structure would allow us to turn over,'' said Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen.
The final death toll from the worst terrorist act on U.S. soil is almost certain to be 167, including a nurse killed in the rescue and Rosas, 22, and Thompson, 56.
As families gathered to hear the final, painful news, Blakeney said just one hope remained for recovering Rosas and Thompson: The FBI will mark the spot where they lay by spraying the concrete with fluorescent paint.
Then, when the building is demolished and the threat of collapse gone, rescuers can make one last try.
Based on interviews with the two women's co-workers, ``We have a very good idea of where we think they are,'' Blakeney said.
In the credit union's temporary, donated office space across town late Friday, Rogers was ordering funeral wreaths. Eighteen of 29 employees were in the office when the bomb went off. All 18 were women, and Rogers herself barely escaped. She regained consciousness after the blast resting on an 18-inch wide ledge that was all that remained of her office.
``I'm not sure if it's really hit me yet,'' she said.
Rosas, who was married and had a 4-year-old son, was working only her eighth day as a receptionist in the credit union's loan office. ``She was really a cute girl, she just bubbled,'' Rogers said.
Thompson, who had three grown children, liked to work in her yard. ``She got up every morning and watched the sun come up,'' said Rogers, who had known her for 20 years.
Nineteen children also are among the dead.
``You wait and wait - when it comes down to it, you don't want to know,'' said Victor Eaves, the uncle of 8-month-old Tylor Eaves, who had been dropped off at the building's day-care center a half-hour before the 4,800-pound truck bomb exploded April 19. The baby was pulled out of the rubble Thursday with three other infants.
As the FBI pressed on with its frustrating hunt for the suspect known as John Doe 2, workers who gave up their search at midnight Thursday returned Friday afternoon to pray and remember.
Bagpipers played ``Amazing Grace'' and a wreath was laid before the entrance to the shattered Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building during a service organized by firefighters for rescue workers and their families.
The workers, many in hard hats and dusty uniforms, were handed long-stemmed roses. They filed out as hundreds of people applauded solemnly for 10 minutes. Many of the workers kept their eyes downcast. Many cried.
by CNB