12/28/2023 0 Comments The hostage the waltons![]() David, who dared not risk their reporting him to the authorities, responded by holding them at gunpoint. When Deppe and Mendenhall finally got wind of his plans moments before the hostage crisis unfolded, they refused to participate. David’s writings reveal that he hoped life would be better for him and Cokeville’s children in this imaginary place. ![]() They believed in reincarnation, which probably led, in part, to the creation of David’s “Brave New World” idea. While David and Doris Young were not involved in an organized religion, both were deeply spiritual. But David refused to reveal his plans entirely until moments before they unfolded.ĭavid’s friends did not know that “the Biggie” was a plan to take over Cokeville Elementary School, hold each of the children hostage for $2 million dollars apiece and then detonate the bomb, transporting the money and children to his “Brave New World,” where he would be God. It was in their Tucson home that David came up with what he considered “the Biggie,” a plan to get rich quick and create a “Brave New World.” This plan involved David’s longtime friends, Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who believed by investing in David’s scheme they would get rich. He was the father of two, but was estranged from his elder daughter. They lived in a mobile home with Princess, David’s youngest daughter from his first marriage. While he was writing his philosophy, Zero Equals Infinity, Doris took part-time jobs including housekeeping and waitressing to support their meager lifestyle. Shortly after their wedding, David and Doris left Cokeville and headed to Tucson, Ariz.ĭuring their time in Tucson, according to Doris’ daughter Bernie Petersen, David became increasingly reclusive, focusing on his philosophical readings and writings. ![]() ![]() She was a divorcée who earned money working as a waitress and singer in a local bar. Young met his second wife, Doris Waters, while in Cokeville. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. David Young’s journals and writings reveal that he was a troubled man who spent many years grappling with deep philosophical questions–about man’s existence, the afterlife and spirituality.Įducated at Chadron State College in Nebraska, he had earned a degree in criminal justice, and was hired as Cokeville’s town marshal in the 1970s. Thus, when David and Doris Young entered the town’s only elementary school with an arsenal of weapons and a gasoline bomb in a grocery cart, no one saw it coming. The first chapter is titled “A Town of Trust.” “rust is big here … youngsters grow up knowing they can turn to many other members of the community with confidence,” write Hartt and Judene Wixom in Trial by Terror: The Child-hostage Crisis in Cokeville, Wyoming. Located in Lincoln County and nestled between the towns of Star Valley and Kemmerer on the Wyoming-Idaho border, Cokeville, many residents believed, was a safe place to rear children. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the community’s elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom.Īt that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo.
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