Bomber Timothy McVeigh wanted his ashes scattered at OKC memorial. New book tells where they really went

A new book on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh reveals that his ashes were scattered in the Rocky Mountains after his execution in 2001.

Bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin, a former CNN legal analyst, concluded his latest book with an answer to the mystery.

"Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism" is set for release May 2.

Toobin wrote that McVeigh's longtime defense attorney, Rob Nigh, picked up the ashes from a private investigator in Denver months after the execution.

"According to the deal he had struck with McVeigh, there would be no single final resting place," Toobin wrote. "Nigh would scatter the ashes to the winds in the Rocky Mountains. By concluding his journey in this way, McVeigh would be everywhere.

"Where, in a way, he remains."

McVeigh considered requesting having his ashes scattered at the bombing memorial

McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building on April 19, 1995. The attack resulted in 168 deaths.

He was convicted at a trial in Denver in 1997 of the bombing, the bomb plot and the murder of eight federal agents. His jury chose the death penalty as his punishment.

He was executed on June 11, 2001, at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Victims at the time were upset by rumors his ashes would be scattered at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Nigh gave assurances in media interviews and to the memorial that would not happen.

McVeigh himself disclosed to reporters at The Buffalo News in New York that he had considered having his ashes spread at the memorial site.

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"That would be too vengeful, too raw, cold. It's not in me," he said.

He also told the reporters he wanted the location kept secret.

"I don't want to create a draw for people who hate me, or for people who love me," McVeigh said.

Toobin wrote that Nigh talked the bomber out of scattering the ashes in Oklahoma City.

The involvement of a Denver-based private investigator in protecting the ashes came to light in 2001.

"People were offering large amounts of money for pieces of his remains. They were calling funeral homes," the investigator, Ellis Armistead, told The Denver Post at the time. "We had to take special precautions."

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The investigator told The Oklahoman this week he removed McVeigh's body from the execution gurney.

"Put him in a bag. Put him in a van. Drove around Terre Haute until we could get to the funeral home," he said. "I talked to him 20 minutes before he was executed. ... It was kind of surreal."

He said a young investigator with him put the ashes in her backpack for their flight back to Denver.

Toobin wrote that Armistead kept the ashes in an evidence locker, next to the ashes of Columbine High School gunman Eric Harris, until Nigh picked them up.

Toobin did not disclose in his notes at the end of the book who told him where the ashes were scattered.

"He didn't get that from me," the investigator said. "I don't know what happened to them. ... I gave them to Nigh and that was the end of my involvement.

"I didn't want to know, to be honest with you."

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Nigh died in 2017 shortly after stepping down as Tulsa County's chief public defender because of cancer.

Toobin covered McVeigh's trial. He is the author of eight other books, including "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson." That account of the former football star's 1994 murder case became the major source for a popular 2016 FX miniseries.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Where are OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh's ashes? Book shares new details