By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: December 3, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – It’s been over 13 years since 44-year-old Kenneth Michael Trentadue died in Oklahoma City’s Federal Transfer Center and since the day he died back in August of 1995, his brother, Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue, has been working to find out who really killed his brother.

At the time, Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy and federal officials concluded that Kenneth Trentadue’s death was a simple suicide by hanging.

But the massive injuries to Kenneth Trentadue’s body would lead any person with clear vision to conclude that Kenneth Trentadue was the victim of something far more heinous while in the federal facility.

Specifically, Kenneth Trentadue was in prison awaiting a hearing on an alleged parole violation, according to a report at IntelWire.com. The prisoner had been convicted in 1982 of playing a role in a bank robbery and was released on parole in 1987.

Jesse Trentadue, who has been very vocal about this case over the years, is convinced, as are his family and certain investigators, that Kenneth Trentadue was murdered in the federal facility by agents of the FBI.

Now, Jesse Trentadue is offering a reward of $250,000 to anyone with information leading to the felony conviction of the person(s) behind Kenneth Trentadue’s murder. An ad featuring reward information and graphic photos of Kenneth Trentadue’s body are available at Oklahoma City radio station website KTOK.com and at Jesse Trentadue’s site www.kmtreward.com.

“Jesse’s got the upper hand and the FBI knows it,” Emery said. “I mean, who offers a $250,000 reward when the Federal Government has concluded it was a simple suicide?”

In 1997, a lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma with the plaintiffs being the Estate of Kenneth Michael Trentadue, et.al vs. the United States of America, et.al. as the defendants. He won.

In documents related to this case, it shows that attorneys for the Civil Rights Division and the Torts Branch regarding the Trentadue “matter” were exchanged via “notes.” These notes, it is noted, were written months before the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit.

Additionally, an interesting development has come to the attention of Red Dirt Report.

It regards Clinton-era Department of Justice officials including former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick and Gorelick’s replacement in 1997, Eric Holder, who was chosen this week to be the Attorney General in an Obama administration. Holder was a key figure in approving Clinton’s pardoning of fugitive Marc Rich, members of a Puerto Rican terrorist group and other radicals.

At the time, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) were looking to have hearings on the Trentadue case and as a result, Holder was dispatched to “mollify” the Senators, according to Jesse Trentadue, who spoke with Red Dirt Report.

Curiously, USA Today, in an article on the Holder appointment in the Dec. 2 edition, interviews Sen. Hatch about Holder.

Reports USA Today: Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says Holder "appears qualified to be U.S. attorney general and, like all nominees, he deserves prompt and fair consideration."

Holder must have been very convincing when he urged Hatch to no longer pursue the Trentadue case.  

“You have the highest levels of Justice working on this like a sumbitch to stall the investigation of my brother’s murder,” said Jesse Trentadue. “Why?”

He points to DOJ emails from that time referring to dealing with the Kenneth Trentadue case as “coordinating the invasion of Normandy” and noting “we ain’t looking for press on this.”

“All we wanted was the truth and for the government to do what is right,” Jesse Trentadue said.

Instead, he said, there were callous, inflammatory comments in the released emails referring to “Trentadue’s” and “trentadon’ts.” He says the tone is very disrespectful and that the emails indicate a sense of urgency. Strange, in light of the fact that the federal government still stands by the idea that this case is simply a suicide.

Jesse Trentadue is convinced that this whole saga involving his brother’s murder leads back to the Oklahoma City bombing and that if this case was reopened it would open a can of worms and some high-profile folks from the Clinton administration could go to prison.

Red Dirt Report is continuing to look into this case and may be commenting further in an upcoming edition of "Radio Free Oklahoma" with Chris Emery and Holland Van den Nieuwenhof, heard in Oklahoma City on 107.1 FM.

To hear Jesse Trentadue' interview with radio talk-show host Alex Jones, which aired today, click here.

Copyright 2008 West Marie Media