By Steve Neavling
Jim Norman, the FBI case agent who helped lead the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, died from a heart attack last week.
Norman retired from the bureau in 2016 after more than 30 years of service and later joined the Tulsa County Cold Case Task Force in Oklahoma.
“Jim Norman brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to our Cold Case Task Force,” the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post. “He will be missed by all of us here, as well as by his family and friends.”
Members of the task force recalled Norman’s hard work and attention to detail.
“He brought such an air of knowledge and confidence, and he had a great sense of humor, and you could count on him for that,” task force member Mike Huff told News9.
A memorial service is scheduled for July 8 in California.
“We’re going to miss him on the job, and we’re going to miss him in our lives,” task force member Doc Shannon said.
On the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Norman described his experience and said he’d never forget that fateful day.
“Five years after the bombing, I brought my wife and children to the dedication ceremony of the memorial. We could have gone in with (President) Clinton, but we chose to go in with the victims and I wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact that hit me when we walked in there and I saw the people who had lost kids, putting stuffed animals and flowers on the little seats,” Norman said in an interview posted on the FBI’s website.
“There’s big seats for adults and little seats for the kids. And when they went in there and put the stuffed animals and the flowers on the little seats, I couldn’t talk. I said I can’t talk and I just walked on the hill for a few minutes until I kind of composed myself. It was so sad what happened with those kids.”
