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Informants, Fugitives & the Shots That Killed a Family
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
The Ruby Ridge standoff didn't begin with a siege — it began with a setup: a paid informant, a sawed-off shotgun, and a government that turned leverage into a death sentence. This chapter traces every fatal decision from Kenneth Fadley's first meeting with Randy Weaver to the moment Lon Horiuchi's bullet killed Vicki Weaver at her own door.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
There's a question that runs through every part of this story, and it's worth holding onto from the start. If Randy Weaver had never met Kenneth Fadley, would any of this have happened?
Weaver failed to appear for a court date in February of nineteen ninety-one. His supporters said the date on his written notice was wrong.
On August twenty-first, nineteen ninety-two, a team of marshals was moving through the wooded terrain around the Weaver property conducting reconnaissance. The family dog, a yellow Labrador named Striker, picked up the scent and began barking.
With a deputy marshal dead, the FBI moved in. The Hostage Rescue Team, the HRT, was deployed to Ruby Ridge.
For eight days after Vicki's death, her body remained inside the cabin. The family couldn't leave to get medical help for Weaver and Harris without risking another confrontation.
In nineteen ninety-three, Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris stood trial on multiple charges, including the original firearms charge and conspiracy counts related to the firefight. The Idaho jury acquitted Weaver on nearly all counts.
What happened next is the part of this story that reaches far beyond a mountain in Idaho. Ruby Ridge became a symbol.
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