"A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones."
-Proverbs 17:22
Located in rural Lincoln County near the border with Idaho, the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, is a small community of barely 500 people. Its total area encompasses just over a square mile of land. Like most tiny, rural settlements in Wyoming, crime in Cokeville was almost unheard of.
But, on May 16th, 1986, the little town of Cokeville found itself thrust into the national spotlight under the most horrific circumstances imaginable. A pair of heavily-armed neo-Nazis entered the local elementary school, carrying a large bomb, and held over 150 students and teachers hostage as part of an elaborate plot to launch a revolution.
The self-proclaimed revolutionaries demanded an exorbitant amount of money for ransom. If the authorities did not comply, the terrorists would detonate the bomb. Hundreds of lives hung in the balance.
It seemed like a nightmare would unfold, but, in the end, the crisis culminated in what was one of the most miraculous escapes in history. So miraculous was the escape, in fact, that observers swore that God Himself had personally intervened, and they deemed the incident "The Cokeville Miracle".
But the true message, the real story of the Cokeville Hostage Crisis, was lost in the whirlwind of miraculous proclamations. And it is this story and this message that I believe must be told, not only to better understand what led to the incident at Cokeville, but to prevent such an incident from happening again.
David Young
The story of the hostage crisis at Cokeville Elementary School could not be told without first addressing the troubled, self-proclaimed revolutionary who set in motion the terrifying chain of events that led to the crisis: David Young.
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| David Young |
The circumstances of his early life and childhood were normal enough, but, when David entered his twenties, he seemed to undergo a transformation. David Young proved to be a highly intelligent young man, highly involved in politics and philosophy. His ability to focus on a task often bordered on full-on obsession, and he became fascinated with subjects like psychology, criminal justice, philosophy, and politics.
Unfortunately, despite his high intelligence, it soon became clear that David Young suffered from severe mental illness, likely a combination of schizoid personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His bizarre (and often volatile) personality made other people his age avoid him, and he struggled with forming relationships.
As a young man, David Young had a passion for firearms. For seven years, he ran a gun store in Cokeville, and was often seen aimlessly wandering the streets wearing a cowboy hat and carrying two revolvers in hip holsters. The townspeople gave David the nickname "Wyatt Earp", in reference to the legendary Old West lawman. Little did they know that this was one of the early warning signs of David Young's serious mental problems.
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| David Young's senior portrait |
When he entered his 20s, David began to meticulously (and inexplicably) document every aspect of his life. He transcribed every job he had, every address he lived at, and described in great detail the events of almost every single day of his life, down to who he talked to, what he ate, and what the weather was like.
These writings amounted to a total of 43
diaries full of David Young's bizarre ramblings, ranging from rantings
against the establishment to theories about reincarnation and the
afterlife.
Despite his shortcomings, David persisted, determined to find his place in the world. In the 1970s, David Young attended Chadron State College in Nebraska, where he earned a degree in criminal justice and graduated near the top of his class.
Despite his shortcomings, David persisted, determined to find his place in the world. In the 1970s, David Young attended Chadron State College in Nebraska, where he earned a degree in criminal justice and graduated near the top of his class.
When he returned to Cokeville, he married and had two
daughters, named Angela and Princess. In 1979, David Young became the "town marshal" of
Cokeville, Wyoming, and served as the community's only police officer.
The troubled young man seemed have finally found his calling.
However, David Young's inability to coexist with his fellow citizens eventually cost him dearly. He was known to have affairs with several women, and numerous residents complained of his bizarre behavior, including his disturbing habit of taking nude pictures of his pre-teen daughters and selling them to make money. After serving as town marshal for only six months, Young was fired by the town of Cokeville for misconduct. Soon afterwards, David's wife filed for divorce, citing her husband's extramarital affairs and unpredictable temper.
David's firing was the first in a series of steps that would eventually lead him to violence. But what happened next would cement his fate forever.
Disgruntled and furious over his firing and loss of his wife, David Young went into severe depression. He began drinking and going to local bars where he rambled about his resentment of the government, blaming them for his situation.
It was at a bar in Cokeville that David Young met a young waitress and aspiring singer named Doris Lydle Waters. Like David, Doris was divorced and on hard times after losing her son in a tragic accident, and she shared David's hatred of the government.
However, David Young's inability to coexist with his fellow citizens eventually cost him dearly. He was known to have affairs with several women, and numerous residents complained of his bizarre behavior, including his disturbing habit of taking nude pictures of his pre-teen daughters and selling them to make money. After serving as town marshal for only six months, Young was fired by the town of Cokeville for misconduct. Soon afterwards, David's wife filed for divorce, citing her husband's extramarital affairs and unpredictable temper.
David's firing was the first in a series of steps that would eventually lead him to violence. But what happened next would cement his fate forever.
Doris Waters
Disgruntled and furious over his firing and loss of his wife, David Young went into severe depression. He began drinking and going to local bars where he rambled about his resentment of the government, blaming them for his situation.
It was at a bar in Cokeville that David Young met a young waitress and aspiring singer named Doris Lydle Waters. Like David, Doris was divorced and on hard times after losing her son in a tragic accident, and she shared David's hatred of the government.
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| Doris Waters |
Both David and Doris decided it was best to leave Cokeville and start a new life. Days after David was fired, he and Doris hopped on a motorcycle, taking David's daughter, Princess, with them, and abruptly left town, vowing never to come back to the community they resented. The pair married in Tucson, Arizona, moved into a mobile home, and settled down to start a new life with Doris' children. Doris found work at a laundromat while her daughters worked as waitresses at a local restaurant.
David Young, however, remained unemployed and bitterly angry at the government he felt had wronged him. And, in the midst of his bitterness, David Young would encounter a fledgling yet highly dangerous political movement that would soon change the course of his life forever.
During the early 1980s, America went through a period of political turmoil. The Midwest Farmers' Crisis of the 1970s and the rapidly changing demographics and culture of the United States had left many people in rural America feeling dissatisfied with the government and looking for a scapegoat to blame for their economic and social problems. And, in the midst of this political upheaval, a growing far-right militant movement began to take hold in the nation's heartland.
Radicalization: Neo-Nazis, the Posse Comitatus, and the Aryan Nations
During the early 1980s, America went through a period of political turmoil. The Midwest Farmers' Crisis of the 1970s and the rapidly changing demographics and culture of the United States had left many people in rural America feeling dissatisfied with the government and looking for a scapegoat to blame for their economic and social problems. And, in the midst of this political upheaval, a growing far-right militant movement began to take hold in the nation's heartland.
As a result, the American neo-Nazi movement underwent a massive resurgence in rural states like Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington.
Violent white supremacist organizations like the Posse Comitatus, Ku Klux Klan, and Aryan Nations quickly gained followers, and poisoned thousands of impressionable people in the American Heartland with the ideologies of hatred, fear, and violence. These groups offered a scapegoat in the form of Jews and minorities for dissatisfied white Americans to blame for their problems, and preached a message of violent revolution against their perceived enemies.
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| The 1980s saw a massive rebirth of the American neo-Nazi movement, with the emergence of violent militias such as the Posse Comitatus (left) and Aryan Nations (right) |
Among the many who fell prey to the radical beliefs of the far-right resurgence were David and Doris Young. Both David and Doris joined the Posse Comitatus, an anti-government, white supremacist militia that urged its followers to reject government laws, refuse to pay taxes, stockpile weapons, and organize all-white "townships" across rural America. Some members of the Posse Comitatus, such as Arthur Kirk and Gordon Kahl, even engaged in acts of violence against law enforcement officers.
The Posse Comitatus's anti-establishment and white separatist ideologies seemed to resonate heavily with David Young, who already resented the government and blamed them for his problems. He and Doris became heavily involved in the group's activities, and attended meetings, read racist literature, and became trained in the use of weapons and survivalist tactics.
David Young quickly took a keen interest in neo-Nazism and white separatism, and developed an admiration for Adolf Hitler. He wrote about the Posse Comitatus' promise of a "Brave New World", in which white Americans would have their own nation free from taxation and government overreach. David Young even began to think of himself as Hitler reincarnated, destined to lead the United States into a "superior future" just as Hitler had done with Germany.
Radicalized and infused with extremist ideologies, David Young's path to destruction and terror had just begun.
Before long, David Young's warped fantasies soon turned to reality. He took the Posse Comitatus's call for violent rebellion to heart, and soon formed a nefarious, bizarre plot to facilitate his fantasies.
David Young became convinced that it was his duty to launch a "revolution" against the government he hated. This revolution, he believed, would mark the beginning of a new era, an all-white homeland in the Upper Midwest, which David called a "Brave New World". He would install himself as "God" and rule over Wyoming as an ultra-wealthy regent, ensuring a "better future" for the children.
To an observer, this idea would appear utterly ridiculous, but David Young had some truly dangerous and terrifying plans to facilitate his revolution. David Young understood that, in order to finance his rebellion, he would need a substantial amount of money. To get that money, David Young planned to take over the local elementary school back in Cokeville, Wyoming. He would hold the students hostage and extort hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom from the authorities. This money would be used to fund his revolution against the government and install his dream of a "Brave New World".
This whole elaborate, warped scheme was nicknamed "The Biggie" by David Young, and it became his and Doris' primary goal in life to the exclusion of almost everything else.
David and Doris Young also believed they would need more manpower in order to launch their revolution, so David Young recruited his daughter, Princess, to accompany them on their mission.
"The Biggie"
Before long, David Young's warped fantasies soon turned to reality. He took the Posse Comitatus's call for violent rebellion to heart, and soon formed a nefarious, bizarre plot to facilitate his fantasies.
David Young became convinced that it was his duty to launch a "revolution" against the government he hated. This revolution, he believed, would mark the beginning of a new era, an all-white homeland in the Upper Midwest, which David called a "Brave New World". He would install himself as "God" and rule over Wyoming as an ultra-wealthy regent, ensuring a "better future" for the children.
To an observer, this idea would appear utterly ridiculous, but David Young had some truly dangerous and terrifying plans to facilitate his revolution. David Young understood that, in order to finance his rebellion, he would need a substantial amount of money. To get that money, David Young planned to take over the local elementary school back in Cokeville, Wyoming. He would hold the students hostage and extort hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom from the authorities. This money would be used to fund his revolution against the government and install his dream of a "Brave New World".
This whole elaborate, warped scheme was nicknamed "The Biggie" by David Young, and it became his and Doris' primary goal in life to the exclusion of almost everything else.
David and Doris Young also believed they would need more manpower in order to launch their revolution, so David Young recruited his daughter, Princess, to accompany them on their mission.
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| Princess Young, 19, was recruited by her father to partake in his "revolution" against the town of Cokeville |
David also consulted with two of his closest friends: Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall. Young told the pair that he had concocted a "get-rich-quick scheme" and asked if they wanted to join in. Mendenhall and Deppe agreed, eager to get some easy money. They asked David Young how the plan would work, but Young refused to tell them, saying he would only reveal to them the specifics of his plot once it actually began to unfold.
Neither Deppe nor Mendenhall had any idea that they were to be pawns in a deadly game, all at the hands of a delusional man with a disturbed, warped mind.
Return to Cokeville
Early on the morning of May 16th, 1986, David and Doris Young set their deadly plan into action.
Anticipating an armed showdown, David and Doris Young had loaded their van with four rifles, nine handguns, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, but the most fearsome weapon in their arsenal was a gigantic, homemade bomb.
Housed in a modified shopping cart, the bomb was intricately designed, consisting of three wooden shelves which separated the various components of the device. On the top shelf were some rounds of ammunition to act as shrapnel. Beneath the ammunition sat a 1-gallon plastic milk jug, filled to the brim with gasoline. On the bottom shelf were six tuna cans filled with gunpowder. Each can was rigged with an electronic blasting cap, which were all wired to a contact switch fashioned out of a battery, wires, and a clothespin.
The triggering mechanism itself was a piece of wood holding the clothespin open and connected to a long shoelace, which could be tied to someone's arm. If the string was pulled, the piece of wood would come free and the clothespin would close, completing the battery's electrical circuit. This would ignite the blasting caps, which in turn would detonate the gasoline and sent a gigantic fireball exploding in all directions, using the ammunition on the top shelf as shrapnel. The bomb's explosive yield was equivalent to 25 sticks of dynamite, enough to level an entire building.
The plan was for the group to take over Cokeville Elementary School, place the teachers and students around the bomb, and demand a massive ransom from the authorities. If the authorities refused David's demands, he would detonate the bomb, killing himself and all of the hostages in a large, fiery blast. David knew full well that, by using young children as human shields, the authorities would be much more likely to comply with his demands.
"Threaten one", he wrote in his diary, "and all are at your mercy."
Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall had no knowledge of any of this. They still believed that "The Biggie" was a simple moneymaking scheme. It wasn't until moments before the van was to depart for Cokeville that David Young revealed that they were to be soldiers in his revolution against the government.
Deppe and Mendenhall were horrified. They wanted no part in their friend's crazy rebellion, and they refused to participate.
But David Young was not going to let Deppe and Mendenhall go and report him to the police. Instead, David brandished a .45-caliber pistol and ordered the pair into the van's backseat, where Doris and Princess handcuffed them both.
Whether Deppe and Mendenhall liked it or not, they were now at the mercy of a madman hell-bent on launching a revolution. They were just the first two hostages to be held by David Young. Within hours, hundreds of lives would hang in the balance.
Cokeville Elementary School
Friday, May 16th, 1986, was a regular day of work and school for the residents of Cokeville, Wyoming. With the long week finally winding down, many students at Cokeville Elementary School were eagerly looking forward to enjoying the weekend.
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| Cokeville Elementary School |
At about 1:00 PM, the Young's van pulled into the parking lot of Cokeville Elementary School. David, Doris, and Princess Young got out and unloaded their weaponry from the vehicle, including the shopping cart bomb. David Young tied the shoelace mechanism to his shirt, loaded his weapons, and began pushing the shopping cart towards the school, with Doris following closely behind him.
At this moment, Princess Young suddenly had a change of heart. Realizing the tragic implications of what was about to happen, she suddenly had an intense desire to leave. Princess told her father that she couldn't follow through with the plan, and urged him to do the same. "My God!", she told David. "How could you do this to innocent children!?"
But David Young would have none of it. He had invested too much into this plan to abandon it now.
"If you want to go, then go!", he angrily yelled to his daughter. Tossing her the keys to the van, he yelled "Take these then and get the hell out of here! You're no daughter of mine!".
Choking back tears, Princess immediately got into the van - where Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall were still handcuffed - and drove off in a hurry. She intended to go to the town hall and inform the police of her father's plans. She hoped that there was still time to stop David Young before he set his plot in motion.
But it was too late. At 1:30 PM, David Young and his wife entered the school with the bomb and their weapons. There was no turning back.
"This is a Revolution!"
School secretary Christine "Tina" Cook was the first to notice the couple walking into the school, pushing a strange-looking cart in front of them. At first, she assumed the two "scruffy-looking" people were simply lost.
"Is there something I can help you with, sir?", Tina asked David Young.
The man smiled. "Yes, ma'am, there certainly is.", he answered. Immediately, David brandished a .45-caliber Colt Commander pistol and aimed it at the secretary. "This is a revolution!", he loudly declared. "Your school is being taken hostage! Consider yourself a prisoner!"
The secretary was dumbfounded. At first, she believed the incident to be some sort of crude prank, but, looking into David's eyes, she could see this was all too real.
"If you'd looked into David Young's eyes", she later recalled, "you'd know it was no joke."
"Don't push any alarms, answer any phones, or call for help!", David ordered. He gestured to the shopping cart. "We are very serious, Mrs. Cook.", he announced. "I have guns and this is a bomb! If you call anyone, all the children will die!"
David opened his jacket, revealing the shoelace detonator tied to his wrist. "See this?", he said, gesturing to the contact switch on the bomb. "All I have to do is pull my arm, and this entire building, with everyone in it, blows sky-high! You and I are only one-half inch away from death!"
Just then, three more teachers entered the hallway, intending to investigate the commotion. They all found themselves staring down the barrel of David's Colt Commander. Like Tina Cook, they, too, became hostages.
David Young ordered Tina to unplug all of the phones at her desk. In order to ensure her compliance, he reminded her of the situation at hand. "If you try to hit me, jump me, or do anything at all, I will pull this bomb trigger as I go down!", he threatened. "The lives of everyone in this building depend on what you do in the next several minutes!"
After Tina was done unplugging the phones, David Young led her at gunpoint down the hall to Room 4, a first-grade class taught by teacher Janel Dayton. She had just finished a reading class with her first-grade students and was about to proceed to geography when she was interrupted.
Bursting open the door, David and Doris Young entered Classroom 4. "This is a revolution!", David Young announced to the startled students and teachers. "I'm holding all of you hostage!"
Some of the children became hysterical, and began crying in terror. "Sit down and shut up!", David screamed. "I have a bomb and I'll set it off if you don't do as I say!"
As David subdued the teachers and children, Doris began lining up weapons and ammunition along the classroom's wall. She and David anticipated that their revolution would end in a hail of gunfire, and they were ready to go out in a blaze of glory.
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| David and Doris Young were armed with an arsenal of rifles, pistols, and homemade explosives. This police photograph shows the couple's weapons, documents, and equipment they had brought into Cokeville Elementary School |
While David Young held the classroom at gunpoint, Doris separated from the group and embarked through the school, intending to round up all of the students.
Doris went from classroom-to-classroom, announcing to the children that there was a "school assembly" they had to attend. But, instead of being led to the auditorium, the students and teachers were instead led into Mrs. Dayton's classroom, where they were overcome by the stench of gasoline and found themselves hostages of David Young.
Within minutes, a total of 167 people (150 children and 17 adults) were crammed into Room 4 (which was only meant to accommodate a maximum of 30 students). "Don't even think of running away!", David warned the children. "We don't want to hurt you but if you try to run away we will!" He waved his .45-caliber pistol in the air and yelled "If you try to run away, I'll shoot you in the legs!"
As the hostages sat, terrified, on the floor, Doris Young walked among them and passed out copies of David's manifesto, a rambling, quasi-philosophical screed entitled "Zero Equals Infinity".
This manifesto, which David Young spent years writing and revising, is so bizarrely written that it is practically impossible to discern its message. Needless to say, Zero Equals Infinity consists of wildly confusing, disjointed, and nonsensical screeds about Socrates, reincarnation, Newton, Shakespeare, mathematical theorems, mankind, Adolf Hitler, electricity, spiritualism, white supremacy, hydrogen fusion, Jesus Christ, metallurgy, law, chemistry, systems of government, New Guinean tribal beliefs, and "the nothingness of knowledge". The manifesto, in short, is an absolute catastrophe of indiscernible madness.
If anything, the only message Zero Equals Infinity conveys is how delusional David Young's warped mind had become. It is, in truth, a testament to his insanity.
Inside Room 4, David and Doris Young used black duct tape to form a small square in the middle of the room. Calling it their "magic square", the couple pushed the bomb into the middle of it and sat down next to the device. If any of the students stepped into the square, they said, they would detonate the bomb.
The school's principal, Max Excell, was understandably concerned about the welfare of the children. He asked David Young if he could go to the nurse's office to get some aspirin, tissues, and books to help calm them down. "All right, go ahead.", David conceded. As the principal left, David shouted a warning: "Be back here in ten minutes, or I'll start shooting these kids one-by-one!"
While he was away, Principal Excell quickly phoned the town sheriff, and told him of what was occurring at Cokeville Elementary School. At first, the sheriff didn't believe him. But when Princess Young arrived, hysterical, at the town hall and relayed to him her father's devious plans, the sheriff immediately realized that the situation was all too real.
The sheriff immediately informed all law enforcement agencies in the area of the scenario unfolding in Cokeville. Within minutes, dozens of officers from Lincoln and Sweetwater County, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the Teton County SWAT team, and even officers from the neighboring states of Idaho and Utah arrived and surrounded Cokeville Elementary School.
The police cordoned off all escape routes, erected barricades, established a tactical operations center, and prepared for what they believed would be a violent showdown. Officers armed with shotguns, pistols, rifles, and revolvers took up strategic positions around the school, ready to shoot down the suspects if they tried to make a run for it.
In addition, every ambulance, fire truck, and emergency worker available was immediately dispatched to the scene. If an armed confrontation developed, authorities anticipated hundreds of casualties, and they needed to ensure that there were enough emergency personnel on hand to deal with a mass-casualty incident.
Worried parents and family members also gathered outside the school, where they were flooded by news media that had been informed of the situation. Distraught at what was unfolding, they begged the police to let them go into the school and see their children, but it was to no avail. All they could do was pray.
Once on scene, the police tried to formulate a plan. They knew they had the Youngs completely surrounded. Now they had to find a way to end the situation without causing mass casualties.
Initially, the authorities considered sending the Teton County SWAT team into the school to neutralize David and and Doris Young, but they changed their minds when Princess told them of the bomb the pair had brought into the school. A tactical entry into the building could end in a fiery explosion that would kill not just the hundreds of students and teachers being held hostage, but also any officers inside the school.
Realizing this would be a hostage situation, the police called in the FBI to assist in negotiations. Their primary goal was to defuse the situation and end it without any bloodshed.
Eventually, David Young established contact with the police outside the building, and informed them of his plans. David told police that he was holding 167 students and teachers hostage, and that he was launching a "great revolution". David demanded a ransom of $2,000,000 for each hostage and a phone call with President Ronald Reagan, to whom he'd already sent a copy of his manifesto.
"Tell them I'm prepared to be here ten days or more if necessary", David said. "It may take Congress that long to raise the money."
Of course, David Young's demands were far beyond feasible. The ransom he demanded would exceed $330 million, a sum which the town could not pay, and the last thing the authorities wanted to do was put an armed madman on the phone with President Reagan. The police seemed trapped. A lunatic was holding over 150 people hostage with a bomb, and they had no way to appease him. It looked like the incident could only end in tragedy.
As the standoff wore on through the afternoon, the children began to become hungry, thirsty, and restless. Some cried for their parents, asking to go home. Others, overcome by the nauseating stench of gasoline, became sick and began vomiting.
The teachers asked David and Doris Young if they could open the windows to air out the room. The smell of the gasoline was making the children sick, they said. Doris Young agreed and opened the windows to air out the room. Other teachers asked David Young if they could get some materials to help calm the children down. Begrudgingly, David Young obliged, and allowed the teachers to gather games and drawing materials for the children. Gradually, the mood seemed to soften. Some of the children began drawing and coloring, while others read some books and played board games. A teacher even brought in a television, and the students watched Transformers as the standoff progressed.
One of the students had just turned ten years old that day. To help lighten the mood, students and teachers began singing "Happy Birthday" to the student. Even Doris Young joined in with the singing. Unlike her husband's angry, irritable demeanor, Doris was very calm and remarkably composed throughout the incident.
However, the severity of the situation was still all too real. In an effort to further calm the children, the teachers decided to lead the hostages in a group prayer.
The tearful praying of the children and teachers seemed to have an indelible effect on Doris Young. At that moment, some would later recall that Doris' demeanor changed. Far from the confidence and determination she had displayed at the beginning of the crisis, Doris Young now seemed to become withdrawn and saddened. She passed out tissues to children who were crying and even prayed along with them.
The praying of the children also affected David Young. He became increasingly angry and agitated, and began demanding the children be quiet. His overconfident attitude seemed to wither away, and it appeared that he was becoming extremely nervous and increasingly paranoid.
At about 3:40 PM, several hours into the standoff, David Young announced he had to use the bathroom. He untied the string around his wrist connecting to the bomb's detonator, and handed it to Doris, who tied it around her arm. David then left the classroom and walked across the hall to the restroom.
Once David was out of the classroom, Doris decided to calm down the restless hostages. "Okay, everyone!", she announced. "It's quiet time!"
Doris then turned away from the hostages, hunched over the shopping cart, and began to fiddle around with the bomb. Nobody knows for certain what Doris was trying to do. Perhaps she was trying to adjust the string to a more comfortable position. Perhaps, moved by the prayers of the hostages, she was trying to defuse the deadly device and put an end to David's mad rebellion. Either way, Doris' attention was now focused on the bomb instead of the hostages.
A teacher walked over to Doris as she was hunched over the shopping cart. The teacher had a headache from the gasoline fumes and was going to ask Doris for some water. She tapped Doris on the shoulder to get her attention.
Startled, Doris Young quickly spun around to face the teacher. In doing so, she accidentally jerked up her arm, pulling the string tied to her wrist and triggering the detonation mechanism.
In an instant, the gigantic bomb exploded. A deafening, fiery blast erupted through the classroom, spewing a gigantic fireball that completely engulfed Doris Young and sending burning gasoline and shrapnel flying in all directions.
Almost immediately, the room became completely engulfed in thick, black smoke. Complete panic and chaos ensued. The children began screaming, yelling, and crying in terror, running blindly through the smoke in an attempt to escape the burning classroom. Some teachers heroically took action, and began shoving children out of the open classroom windows, desperate to get them to safety before they succumbed to smoke inhalation.
In the midst of this pandemonium, David Young returned from the bathroom and entered the ruined classroom. Doris was lying on the floor, badly wounded from the explosion and just barely alive. The plot had failed. David knew his revolution against the government was in ruins, and that, if he surrendered, he would never be a free man again.
Realizing all was lost, David Young aimed his .45-caliber pistol at Doris's prone body and fired a single shot into her head, killing his dying wife instantly. David then fired another shot at fleeing teacher John Miller. The round struck Miller in the back and exited his shoulder, but did not inflict a serious wound.
David Young then went back into the boys' bathroom and closed the door. He pressed the barrel of his Colt Commander against the side of his head, pulled the trigger, and, with a third and final shot, he put an end to his violent, insanity-fueled revolution forever.
Standoff
Inside Room 4, David and Doris Young used black duct tape to form a small square in the middle of the room. Calling it their "magic square", the couple pushed the bomb into the middle of it and sat down next to the device. If any of the students stepped into the square, they said, they would detonate the bomb.
The school's principal, Max Excell, was understandably concerned about the welfare of the children. He asked David Young if he could go to the nurse's office to get some aspirin, tissues, and books to help calm them down. "All right, go ahead.", David conceded. As the principal left, David shouted a warning: "Be back here in ten minutes, or I'll start shooting these kids one-by-one!"
While he was away, Principal Excell quickly phoned the town sheriff, and told him of what was occurring at Cokeville Elementary School. At first, the sheriff didn't believe him. But when Princess Young arrived, hysterical, at the town hall and relayed to him her father's devious plans, the sheriff immediately realized that the situation was all too real.
The sheriff immediately informed all law enforcement agencies in the area of the scenario unfolding in Cokeville. Within minutes, dozens of officers from Lincoln and Sweetwater County, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the Teton County SWAT team, and even officers from the neighboring states of Idaho and Utah arrived and surrounded Cokeville Elementary School.
The police cordoned off all escape routes, erected barricades, established a tactical operations center, and prepared for what they believed would be a violent showdown. Officers armed with shotguns, pistols, rifles, and revolvers took up strategic positions around the school, ready to shoot down the suspects if they tried to make a run for it.
In addition, every ambulance, fire truck, and emergency worker available was immediately dispatched to the scene. If an armed confrontation developed, authorities anticipated hundreds of casualties, and they needed to ensure that there were enough emergency personnel on hand to deal with a mass-casualty incident.
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| Police cars and abandoned bicycles lie outside Cokeville Elementary School during the hostage crisis |
Worried parents and family members also gathered outside the school, where they were flooded by news media that had been informed of the situation. Distraught at what was unfolding, they begged the police to let them go into the school and see their children, but it was to no avail. All they could do was pray.
Once on scene, the police tried to formulate a plan. They knew they had the Youngs completely surrounded. Now they had to find a way to end the situation without causing mass casualties.
Initially, the authorities considered sending the Teton County SWAT team into the school to neutralize David and and Doris Young, but they changed their minds when Princess told them of the bomb the pair had brought into the school. A tactical entry into the building could end in a fiery explosion that would kill not just the hundreds of students and teachers being held hostage, but also any officers inside the school.
Realizing this would be a hostage situation, the police called in the FBI to assist in negotiations. Their primary goal was to defuse the situation and end it without any bloodshed.
Eventually, David Young established contact with the police outside the building, and informed them of his plans. David told police that he was holding 167 students and teachers hostage, and that he was launching a "great revolution". David demanded a ransom of $2,000,000 for each hostage and a phone call with President Ronald Reagan, to whom he'd already sent a copy of his manifesto.
"Tell them I'm prepared to be here ten days or more if necessary", David said. "It may take Congress that long to raise the money."
Of course, David Young's demands were far beyond feasible. The ransom he demanded would exceed $330 million, a sum which the town could not pay, and the last thing the authorities wanted to do was put an armed madman on the phone with President Reagan. The police seemed trapped. A lunatic was holding over 150 people hostage with a bomb, and they had no way to appease him. It looked like the incident could only end in tragedy.
Conflagration
As the standoff wore on through the afternoon, the children began to become hungry, thirsty, and restless. Some cried for their parents, asking to go home. Others, overcome by the nauseating stench of gasoline, became sick and began vomiting.
The teachers asked David and Doris Young if they could open the windows to air out the room. The smell of the gasoline was making the children sick, they said. Doris Young agreed and opened the windows to air out the room. Other teachers asked David Young if they could get some materials to help calm the children down. Begrudgingly, David Young obliged, and allowed the teachers to gather games and drawing materials for the children. Gradually, the mood seemed to soften. Some of the children began drawing and coloring, while others read some books and played board games. A teacher even brought in a television, and the students watched Transformers as the standoff progressed.
One of the students had just turned ten years old that day. To help lighten the mood, students and teachers began singing "Happy Birthday" to the student. Even Doris Young joined in with the singing. Unlike her husband's angry, irritable demeanor, Doris was very calm and remarkably composed throughout the incident.
However, the severity of the situation was still all too real. In an effort to further calm the children, the teachers decided to lead the hostages in a group prayer.
The tearful praying of the children and teachers seemed to have an indelible effect on Doris Young. At that moment, some would later recall that Doris' demeanor changed. Far from the confidence and determination she had displayed at the beginning of the crisis, Doris Young now seemed to become withdrawn and saddened. She passed out tissues to children who were crying and even prayed along with them.
The praying of the children also affected David Young. He became increasingly angry and agitated, and began demanding the children be quiet. His overconfident attitude seemed to wither away, and it appeared that he was becoming extremely nervous and increasingly paranoid.
At about 3:40 PM, several hours into the standoff, David Young announced he had to use the bathroom. He untied the string around his wrist connecting to the bomb's detonator, and handed it to Doris, who tied it around her arm. David then left the classroom and walked across the hall to the restroom.
Once David was out of the classroom, Doris decided to calm down the restless hostages. "Okay, everyone!", she announced. "It's quiet time!"
Doris then turned away from the hostages, hunched over the shopping cart, and began to fiddle around with the bomb. Nobody knows for certain what Doris was trying to do. Perhaps she was trying to adjust the string to a more comfortable position. Perhaps, moved by the prayers of the hostages, she was trying to defuse the deadly device and put an end to David's mad rebellion. Either way, Doris' attention was now focused on the bomb instead of the hostages.
A teacher walked over to Doris as she was hunched over the shopping cart. The teacher had a headache from the gasoline fumes and was going to ask Doris for some water. She tapped Doris on the shoulder to get her attention.
Startled, Doris Young quickly spun around to face the teacher. In doing so, she accidentally jerked up her arm, pulling the string tied to her wrist and triggering the detonation mechanism.
In an instant, the gigantic bomb exploded. A deafening, fiery blast erupted through the classroom, spewing a gigantic fireball that completely engulfed Doris Young and sending burning gasoline and shrapnel flying in all directions.
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| The remnants of Room 4 following the bomb explosion, with debris and pieces of the bomb scattered around the "Magic Square" in the middle of the room |
Almost immediately, the room became completely engulfed in thick, black smoke. Complete panic and chaos ensued. The children began screaming, yelling, and crying in terror, running blindly through the smoke in an attempt to escape the burning classroom. Some teachers heroically took action, and began shoving children out of the open classroom windows, desperate to get them to safety before they succumbed to smoke inhalation.
In the midst of this pandemonium, David Young returned from the bathroom and entered the ruined classroom. Doris was lying on the floor, badly wounded from the explosion and just barely alive. The plot had failed. David knew his revolution against the government was in ruins, and that, if he surrendered, he would never be a free man again.
Realizing all was lost, David Young aimed his .45-caliber pistol at Doris's prone body and fired a single shot into her head, killing his dying wife instantly. David then fired another shot at fleeing teacher John Miller. The round struck Miller in the back and exited his shoulder, but did not inflict a serious wound.
David Young then went back into the boys' bathroom and closed the door. He pressed the barrel of his Colt Commander against the side of his head, pulled the trigger, and, with a third and final shot, he put an end to his violent, insanity-fueled revolution forever.
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| A pool of blood in the school bathroom adjacent to Room 4 shows where David Young committed suicide. |
Miracle
Following the explosion, first responders and worried parents all feared the worst. The blast had been heard all across town and smoke was now pouring out of the building. To many people, it was almost certain that dozens of young children and teachers had just lost their lives.
Out of the dense smoke, dozens of terrified children, some with their clothes or hair on fire, ran screaming and crying into the arms of their parents. Emergency workers set up a triage outside the school, where they treated dozens of victims who had suffered burns or scrapes. Police officers rushed to the windows of the classroom, where teachers still trapped in the smoke-filled classroom shoved dozens of wounded students into their arms.
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| A father carries his wounded son from Cokeville Elementary School after David Young's bomb exploded |
Immediately following the blast, the Teton County SWAT team, accompanied by a squad of policemen and FBI agents, made a dynamic entry into Cokeville Elementary School. Inside the school, the SWAT team found several injured students collapsed in the hallway. They were immediately carried outside to waiting ambulances.
As they prepared to enter the burning Room 4, the SWAT team prepared themselves for the worst. They expected to find dozens of dead children and adults lying inside the gutted classroom. There was no way, they thought, that anyone near the bomb could have survived.
But, when the SWAT team entered the bombed-out classroom, they found it almost completely abandoned. There were no body parts, severed limbs, or mangled corpses. It appeared almost as if the children had simply vanished into thin air.
Searching through the smoke, the police found the badly-burned body of Doris Young lying in the middle of the room, surrounded by scattered remnants of the bomb. She was lying in a pool of blood, and appeared to have been shot. Police officers moved Doris outside to the lawn of the school, and a yellow sheet was placed over her corpse.
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| Doris Young lies dead outside Cokeville Elementary School |
Checking the adjacent boys' bathroom, the SWAT team found David Young lying on the floor, slumped against a trash can, dead from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. One overzealous SWAT officer kicked away the dead man's Colt Commander, dragged him out of the bathroom, and handcuffed Young's corpse in the hallway.
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| David Young used this .45-caliber Colt Commander pistol (center) to kill his wife and himself after the bombing |
Police continued to search the wreckage of the classroom but, to their amazement, they found no other bodies in the vicinity. The SWAT team couldn't believe their eyes. Although the classroom had been almost completely destroyed by the blast, it appeared that none of the children or the teachers had been killed. The only bodies the police could find were those of David and Doris Young.
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| Coroners remove the body of David Young from Cokeville Elementary School |
Outside the school, the teachers tried to restore order among the hostages. One teacher did a headcount to make sure everyone was present. To his amazement, he found that all 167 children and adults were alive and accounted for. Incredulous, he did a recount, but, again, he found that every single hostage had escaped from Room 4.
"We're all here!", he yelled with joy and relief. "I counted everyone! We're all alive! It's a miracle!"
Indeed, it was a miracle of epic proportions. Although the bomb blast wounded 74 children and adults, not one hostage was killed, and every injured person later made a full recovery.
In the aftermath of the incident, many wild theories swirled. Some of the children claimed that, moments before the blast, they had seen an angel tell them to go by the windows. Others claimed that they had seen the ghosts of dead relatives appear and protect them from the blast.
These extravagant claims of paranormal intervention were probably no more than figments of the children's imaginations, likely egged on by suggestive questioning from reporters. But the fact remains that, to many people, it seemed that only God Himself could have possibly prevented David Young's rebellion from ending in tragedy.
Investigators later determined the reason why the bomb had not killed everyone in the room. One major reason was the fact that the classroom windows were open. Because the open windows allowed for the blast pressure to dissipate, the bomb's explosion was not as powerful.
It was also later revealed that only three of the six blasting caps in the gunpowder-filled tuna cans had ignited, and had only partially detonated the bomb. Additionally, it was revealed that the carton of gasoline on the shopping cart apparently had a hole in it, and some of the gasoline had dripped onto the gunpowder. Wet gunpowder does not explode with as much force as dry gunpowder, and the blast force of the bomb had been significantly reduced because of this.
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| Workers remove pieces of ceiling tiles from Room 4. A strange-looking blast mark is present on the wall, which some children claimed was left by an angel |
Furthermore, and more importantly, evidence was also uncovered suggesting that it was Doris Young herself who had prevented further destruction. Forensic investigators discovered that several of the wires on the bomb leading to the blasting caps had apparently been cut with a knife.
Later, one of Doris' friends would tell the FBI that Doris Young had confided to her that her husband was "weird" and "not in this world anymore", and that she planned to leave him.
It
has been theorized that Doris Young may have realized the tragic
implications of what she and her husband were about to do, and she may
have been trying to defuse the bomb when it accidentally exploded.
Whatever the cause or reason, the end result was the same. The town of Cokeville narrowly avoided a tragic catastrophe, and the only people who died in the incident were David and Doris Young, victims of their own psychotic revolution against the government they had despised.
The Real Lesson: David Young and the Midwest's Mental Health Crisis
In the almost 33 years since the Cokeville bombing, the events of the day have constantly been referred to as proof of divine miracles. Many people, even survivors of the attack, have claimed that the incredible good fortune of the day must have been the result of angels intervening to save the lives of the hostages. Their prayers, they claim, must have been heard and answered by God Himself.
While I understand that such conclusions might serve as consolation to those whose lives were affected by the Cokeville incident, I feel that this is the wrong message to take away from this incident.
The lessons we learn from Cokeville shouldn't be that we should rely on God's miracles to save us from disaster. Such thinking is dangerously flawed, because it ignores the factors that led to Cokeville finding itself in such danger in the first place.
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| The dramatic saga of the Cokeville hostage crisis made front-page news across the world. Unfortunately, in the wake of the "Cokeville miracle", superstition and fantastic claims substituted common sense, and have greatly distorted the actual warnings and problems that this incident exposed. |
David Young was an incredibly intelligent man. There is no denying that. But he was also very sick and very mentally ill.
Now, I know the term "mental illness" seems to have lately lost its meaning. We use it to describe almost everybody who commits a terrible crime, regardless of their actual mental state. So, before going further, I would like to first rectify the definition of mental illness.
"Mental illness" is often used, inaccurately, to describe psychopathic individuals. In this regard, I must make a clear distinction. Psychopathy is not a mental illness; it is a personality disorder. Psychopaths don't suffer breaks from reality. They can differentiate between what is real and what is not. Psychopaths like Mark Hopkinson, Lawrence Bittaker, and Eric Harris know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, but they simply choose to do what is wrong, because they derive sadistic pleasure from inflicting pain on others.
David Young, however, was not a psychopath. He was not sadistic, nor did he derive pleasure from inflicting pain. He was deluded and, in the truest sense, mentally sick.
Setting aside David Young's bizarre, erratic, and ultimately violent behavior, one only needs to look at his writings to get a sense of how distorted his mind was.
David's manifesto, Zero Equals Infinity, is full of bizarre, confusing, run-on rambles about a whole variety of disjointed topics. Discerning any clear, single message from the manifesto is practically impossible. The opening lines of the manifesto makes this clear enough:
"Seemingly,
some thousands of years ago, several individuals combined, or perceived
their combination, and therein created man. This creation was, and is, a
concept; a thought or idea, neither right or wrong (left) but a way
among ways.
For the better part of the interim then, men played with Man making love, fire, food, mores, children, Gods, language, tools, wastes, etc: combinations of divers sorts, in almost as many directions (purposes)."
For the better part of the interim then, men played with Man making love, fire, food, mores, children, Gods, language, tools, wastes, etc: combinations of divers sorts, in almost as many directions (purposes)."
Notice
the bizarre, inconsistent, and disordered writing style of the
manifesto. This is not the writing of a cunning, calculated psychopath.
These are the mad ravings of a very confused, unstable, and mentally-ill man.
So, clearly, we can see that David Young was very, very mentally ill. "So what?", you may ask.
Well,
that brings me to the second part of my analysis. David Young needed
help. He was in dire need of psychiatric treatment. But, unfortunately,
not only was mental illness ignored for the most part during David
Young's life, but he also had the misfortune of being born in the rural
Midwest.
Even
today, mental health care in rural America is abysmal. States like
Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming have the highest rates of suicide in the
entire country. Now, part of that is due to simple demographics, because
much of the population is spread out, and studies have shown a
correlation between loneliness and depression.
But
another major factor is that the Midwest is seriously lacking in mental
health clinics. States like Montana, Arizona, and Wyoming rank near the
bottom in mental health treatment. Those who suffer from mental illness
in those states often have nowhere to go for help.
David
Young was in a similar paradox. From an early age, he showed plenty of
warning signs that should have alerted friends and family of his
degrading mental stability. David Young should have gotten help. He
should have gotten the treatment he needed. But he didn't. Instead,
David Young was left alone with his disturbed mind and his psychotic thoughts.
Instead
of finding help, David Young found his calling in the militant neo-Nazi and
anti-government movement. Rather than provide him treatment for his
affliction, these movements instead solidified David Young's delusions,
and convinced him that it was the rest of the world, not him, that was
sick and corrupt. They only served to drive David Young further down the
path of insanity, until his delusions of grandeur were so great, and
his touch with reality was so lost, that David Young fully believed
himself to be the leader of an anti-government revolution that would
usher in a new age.
So,
in the end, the story of the Cokeville Hostage Crisis should not be
remembered as a story of a miracle at the hands of angels. It should not
be upheld as proof of divine intervention at the hands of God. These
claims of supernatural phenomenon completely miss the message we should
learn from what happened at Cokeville.
Observers
must stop dissecting the incident for what it is not, and instead look
at it for what it is: a story of a very sick man who, unable to find
treatment for his severe mental illness, instead turned to radical
extremism and embarked on a rampage of insanity and violence against the
children of Cokeville, Wyoming.
The
story of David Young, in the end, is a cautionary tale about America's
serious deficits in mental health care. It is an example of how
dangerous untreated insanity, coupled with violent extremism, can
become.
It
is too late now for David Young, but there are many, many more people
like him living in the Midwest who suffer from the same ailments that he
did. They need our help, and we must provide it to them, because, like
David Young, these sorts of people are very susceptible to ideologies
like neo-Nazism and militant, anti-government sentiment.
If
we want to stop incidents like Cokeville from happening again, we
should not turn to miracles for hope. We cannot count on religion to
solve our mental health crisis.
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