(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A controversial ATF informant who forewarned her handlers about the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing has reportedly turned up dead 30 years later.
The ex-ATF informant, Carol Howe—who warned her handlers in early 1995 that neo-Nazi extremists in Oklahoma were planning to attack federal buildings—had vanished in the late 90s after being acquitted from explosives charges. In the remaining years of her life, she was reportedly living in Sparta, Tennessee under the name “Sarah Collins.” She died in a house fire on Jan. 6, according to documentarian Jon Ronson.
I've just released a brand new epilogue episode of my Audible show THE DEBUTANTE, about the very mysterious Carol Howe. It's because of an extraordinary, dreadful message I received out of the blue in January. Everything is explained HERE: https://t.co/3BfD0urC8j pic.twitter.com/pGixhOzfAn
— jon ronson (@jonronson) April 24, 2025
Ronson, who produced a podcast in 2023 about Howe, said he was contacted by a listener earlier this year.
“Mr. Ronson…. I just listened to an interview you did about Carol Howe. I have been listening to anything I can about her because she died Monday in a house fire across the street from me. She was going by the name Sarah Collins, but it has been confirmed that she was Carol Howe. She was a complete recluse. About 4 1/2 years ago she went inside her house and never came out,” the listener told him.
Ronson went to Sparta to find out more about Howe, including whether she indeed knew about the OKC bombing before it happened.
Much of Ronson’s podcast paints Howe as a mentally unstable, unreliable source. According to Ronson, Howe became increasingly paranoid towards the end of her life, she lived like a hoarder, and was possibly using fentanyl and other drugs.
However, Ronson did report new information that corroborates Howe’s claims of seeing OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh before his attack. Howe’s sister, Lucy, told Ronson that Carol mentioned McVeigh in the Christmas of 1994.
“I do have a story that proves [Carol] knew [McVeigh],” Lucy told Ronson.
“The Christmas before, we were altogether, and my grandmother had passed away. My grandmother’s maiden name is McVeigh, so I said that I wanted to name my kid ‘X McVeigh.’ Carol said, ‘I doubt you’ll want to use that name,’” Lucy said.
“I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘I don’t think you’re going to want to use the name McVeigh.'”
Ronson said he didn’t know what to make of Lucy’s story. Regardless of whether Howe knew McVeigh, the public record shows that she definitely warned the ATF about the OKC bombing.
Indeed, the truth about Howe came out after she was arrested in 1997 for allegedly making bomb threats and having an explosive device at her home. During her trial Howe’s allegations were corroborated by her former ATF handler, Angela Finley-Graham.
The ATF agent testified that Howe had indeed warned the federal government that people from Elohim City had plans to attack federal buildings in early 1995.
“Ms. Howe told you about Mr. Strassmeir’s threats to blow up federal buildings, didn’t she?” said Howe’s attorney, Clark Brewster, referring to German national Andreas Carl Strassmeir.
ATF agent Finley-Graham responded: “Yes.”
“And was this before the Oklahoma City bombing?” Brewster asked.
Again, agent Finley-Graham said, “Yes,” in response.
A jury exonerated Howe of all charges. The former informer went into hiding soon thereafter, and lived under an assumed name for the next 20-plus years.
Two years ago, Headline USA interviewed Strassmeir, the man Howe implicated in the bombing. Strassmeir had been living at Elohim City in the 90s, and is confirmed to have met McVeigh at a gun show in Tulsa before the attack. He says he didn’t know McVeigh, and that he had nothing to do with the bombing.
Strassmeir, who was never a suspect in the FBI’s investigation of the bombing, said he knew Howe was a federal informant from the moment she stepped inside Elohim City. He tried to warn Elohim City’s spiritual leader, Robert Millar, but said Millar’s religious beliefs dictated that all of Christ’s children were welcome at his property.
“I was 99% she was an informant when she was there. She was such a dishonest person, and I caught her lying all the time. I said, ‘We shouldn’t allow her to be here.’ And they had a little meeting with the elders,” he said.
“But Millar said, ‘We’re not doing anything illegal here, so what harm is it for her to be here?’ I said, ‘I hope you don’t regret this situation.’ And I guess I was right.”
Strassmeir further said he thought that Howe and the ATF were targeting him in particular, because he was staying in the U.S. illegally. This would have given law enforcement the excuse it needed to raid Elohim City, he said.
Strassmeir maintains to this day that Howe is a serial liar who fabricated her claims for attention. Strassmeir said he fed Howe disinformation on purpose so he could prove she was an informant when she spread his fabrications.
“She’s making stuff up to give her handlers something, so she could stay employed as a snitch,” he said. “So what’s the most likely thing she’ll tell them? She’ll talk about assassinating federal agents, blowing up buildings—I mean, that’s the oldest trick in the book.”
Headline USA reached out to Strassmeir upon the news of Howe’s death, and he responded with the following message: “Karma? … or is somebody covering his tracks? Howe played an essential part in the conspiracy to frame innocent people for the OK-City bombing.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
