Smith International

Chemical Plant Explosion Kills 7

IC Date: July 10, 1995

In the morning TV news cycle the dramatic brassy flourish of the Eyewitness News theme music blares on a red white and blue screen. Dave Ward, THE LONE STAR RANGER, sits at the anchor desk in his signature navy suit and burgundy tie, reading glasses perched before his steady, authoritative gaze.

"Good morning, Houston, I'm Dave Ward. Tonight at six: A deadly explosion at a chemical plant in Deer Park has federal investigators asking whether this was an accident or something more sinister."

The screen fills with helicopter footage showing billowing black smoke rising from a sprawling, industrial complex. Emergency vehicles with flashing red and blue lights look like tiny toys scattered around the perimeter. The camera zooms in on the twisted wreckage concrete walls blown outward, steel beams scattered like ribs of a wolf-torn carcass, and hazmat-suited figures moving carefully through the debris.

"Seven people are confirmed dead, more than twenty injured, after a massive blast rocked the Smith International facility early Tuesday morning. But tonight, Eyewitness News has learned that several workers were already missing before the explosion ever happened."

A field reporter whose dark hair whips in the humid Gulf breeze stands beside the Channel 13 news van parked before the industrial landscape which stretches toward the Ship Channel. Flare stacks and their belching flames punctuate the skyline, and the distant hum of heavy machinery drones along with her voice.

"Dave, I'm standing about a quarter-mile from what's left of Building 7, where the explosion occurred. The chemical smell is overwhelming! Federal agents tell me they're treating this as what they call an 'all-hazards investigation,' meaning they're not ruling anything out, including the possibility of sabotage."

The camera cuts to grainy footage of men carrying equipment cases. While it's blurry, the bit yellow 'ATF' emblazoned on their dark windbreakers is just as unmistakable as the crime scene tape.

"In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing just three months ago," the woman continues, "federal authorities are saying that they aren't taking any chances because the American people deserve to know what happened here. But perhaps most disturbing, Dave, are reports that as many as eight night-shift workers have been unaccounted for in recent weeks! All of them working with the same experimental chemicals that were stored in the building that exploded."

The screen shows family members gathered outside the facility's main gate, some clutching faded photographs, others holding handmade signs asking "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?" A middle-aged Latina woman in a flower-print dress wipes tears from her eyes as she holds up a photo of a man in work coveralls.

"Families of the missing workers say the company told them their loved ones had simply stopped showing up for work," says the woman in her practiced News Anchor cadence. "But they want to know: where are they now?"

The camera cuts back to Dave Ward who removes reading glasses and gives the camera that concerned look of his. Fuck a lot of Tucker Carlson, Dave Ward was doing that 'concerned stare at the camera' before that clown was a THOUGHT.

"Thank you, Susan. Smith International has declined our repeated requests for interviews. We'll continue following this developing story."

Industrial Safety Or Corporate Profits?

IC Date: July 10, 1995

An article in the Editorial section of Houston Chronicle by Eugenia Rodriguez reads...

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY OR CORPORATE PROFITS? The explosion at Smith International's Deer Park facility this week should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who still believes that corporate self-regulation can protect workers and communities from industrial disasters.

While federal investigators work to determine the immediate cause of Tuesday's blast, a broader pattern of regulatory failure is already emerging: one that local workplace safety advocates say has been building for months.

"This didn't happen in a vacuum," says Julian Morrow, whose equity investment group has been tracking industrial safety violations across the Ship Channel. "When you systematically weaken safety oversight and cut funding for inspections, these kinds of tragedies become inevitable."

The numbers tell the story. OSHA inspections of petrochemical facilities in Harris County dropped by by thirty five percent between 1993 and 1994, even as the number of facilities handling experimental chemicals increased. Meanwhile, industry lobbyists successfully pushed through legislation that reduced mandatory safety reporting requirements for companies handling "proprietary" industrial solvents.

"The usual line is that cutting red tape makes these facilities more efficient," says Dominique Baptiste, whose work as a strategic consultant has given him many informative experiences with organizations along the Ship Channel. "Investors and eager executives, they'll say things like, safety stifles innovation, you're remembered for the rules you break, if you want to be safe, don't get in your car. But what they don't understand is safety regulations are written in blood. Or maybe they do: maybe they're really saying, previous deaths don't matter as much as their profit margin."

The missing workers at Smith International have been reportedly absent for weeks before the explosion. Their absence raises troubling questions. How does a company lose track of multiple employees without triggering investigations? What were these workers exposed to that might explain their disappearances?

Baptiste points to a disturbing trend. Companies are classifying worker health incidents as "trade secret" matters to avoid public disclosure. "When profit margins become more important than human lives, we get disasters like this one."

The parallels to Exxon's handling of the Valdez disaster are unmistakable. Initial denials, claims that everything was "under control," promises of full cooperation while stonewalling investigators. We've seen this playbook before.

But this time, the stakes are even higher. Unlike a remote Alaskan coastline, the Smith International facility sits in the heart of a metropolitan area of four million people! How many can die in the next explosion?

State legislators who voted to weaken industrial oversight should be asking themselves hard questions this week. These are the rotting fruits of deregulation, where emergency responders can't get straight answers about what chemicals are stored where, when workers disappear without explanation, and when companies respond to disasters with silence instead of transparency.

The people who died Tuesday morning deserved better, and the families of the missing are facing a very undeserved hell. The families of those missing Smith International workers are not only dealing with the grief and uncertainty of not knowing what happened to their loved ones, but they're also potentially facing financial ruin because they can't collect on life insurance policies without proof of death. The communities living downwind of these facilities deserve to know that protecting corporate secrets isn't more important than protecting human lives.

It's time to admit that the experiment in industry self-regulation has failed. Before the next explosion claims even more lives.

Eight Workers Still Missing

IC Date: July 20, 1995

The explosion at Smith International's Deer Park facility continues to baffle federal investigators two weeks after the blast that killed seven workers and left nothing but ruin where Building 7 once stood. But even more disturbing than the explosion itself is a mystery that has pushed federal agents and local authorities to consider even more grim details: the complete disappearance of eight night-shift workers who vanished without explanation.

The missing workers were all last seen reporting to their shifts, some as recent as July 3rd, nearly a week before the explosion that would devastate the facility's experimental chemical storage area. Security logs confirm each man badged into the complex that evening. When the explosion rocked the facility on July 8th, investigators expected to find their remains in the wreckage.

Instead, they found nothing.

"In twenty-five years of my career, I've never encountered anything like this," said Gerard Scannell, Assistant Secretary of Labor and head of OSHA's regional office. "Eight people don't simply vanish from a secured industrial facility. We're treating this as seriously as the explosion itself."

The missing workers - Joseph Aguilar, 24; Byron Jackson, 31; Tommy Botkin, 19; Eddie Chen, 28; Marcus Williams, 33; Aaron Washington, 41; David Santos, 29; and Richard Martinez, 26 - represented nearly the entire night shift crew responsible for handling XK-47, an experimental industrial solvent that Smith International was developing next-generation cleaning solvents for oil, automotive and maritime industries.

Smith International's response to questions about the missing workers has been consistent and unhelpful. Company spokesman Richard Berry maintains that all eight men were "independent contractors" with no official employment records, despite families producing evidence to the contrary.

"We are cooperating fully with federal investigators," Berry stated in a prepared release. "However, given the proprietary nature of our industrial processes and ongoing intellectual property concerns, we cannot comment on specific personnel matters or operational details." This corporate stonewalling has infuriated families and frustrated federal investigators alike. ATF Special Agent Patricia Morrison, who is leading the criminal investigation parallel to OSHA's industrial safety probe, confirmed that Smith International has invoked trade secret protections on nearly every document request.

"We're being told that employment records, safety protocols, and even basic facility maps are proprietary information," Morrison said. "It's unprecedented obstruction disguised as protecting trade secrets."

The families aren't waiting for corporate cooperation. Led by Maria Aguilar and Danielle Jackson, they've hired Houston attorney Michael Brennan to pressure both the company and federal agencies for answers. He has raised disturbing questions about the timing of the disappearances. All eight workers vanished during a two-week period when Smith International was conducting what company documents describe as "enhanced testing protocols" for XK-47. The experimental solvent, originally designed as an industrial degreaser, had apparently shown unexpected properties that attracted significant commercial interest.

"What kind of 'enhanced testing' requires eight men to disappear?" Brennan asked. "What were they exposed to? What did they see? And why is a chemical company acting like the CIA when families just want to know if their husbands and sons are alive?"

For the families of the missing workers, speculation provides no comfort, instead fighting a bureaucratic nightmare. Without death certificates, they can't collect life insurance benefits. Without official employment records - which Smith International claims were destroyed in the explosion - they can't even prove their loved ones worked at the facility.

"The bank wants to foreclose on our house because I can't make the mortgage payments without Aaron's income," Andrea Washington said through tears. "But I can't get his life insurance because they won't declare him dead. I can't get worker's compensation because the company says he was never an employee. It's like he never existed."

As federal investigators continue their work, the families of the missing eight continue their own search. They've hired private investigators, posted flyers throughout Houston, and established a tip line for anyone with information about their missing relatives.

Satanic Panic

Satanist Kidnappings Terrorize South Houston!

IC Date: July 4, 1995

KHOU Channel 11 - 10 PM News!

Nancy looks like any other mid-90s Houston anchor with that sky high blond Dallas hair, bright red lipstick, shoulder pads that could kill a mayun, and the concern in her voice makes you wonder where your kids are.

"Good evening, Houston, I'm Nancy Gribble. Tonight at 10: A disturbing story that has parents across Houston asking tough questions about what their children might be involved in."

A musical sting strikes dramatically over the title card, OCCULT TERROR!

"A local man's terrifying ordeal in the woods south of Houston has police investigating possible connections to underground occult gaming that may be spreading among area youth. Channel 11's Mike Jimenez has been following this developing story."

The camera cuts to clean-cut Mike Jimenez and his pomaded hair, standing outside of the HPD headquarters in downtown Houston. The big old concrete structure is one hell of a building, which evokes prison bars with its dramatic facade.

"Nancy, what started as an illegal street racing event last Friday night has uncovered what experts are calling a disturbing pattern of occult activity targeting young people in our community!

The footage cuts to police cars and crime scene tape B roll with piney woods in the background and Jimenez's voice plays over the B-roll:

"22 year old Omar Vasquez thought he was just going to watch some cars race, but instead, he became the victim of what he describes as a terrifying ritual kidnapping!"

The camera cuts to footage of Omar, a mixed-race man who seems a little aggressive even in the short clip. "These three psychoes tried to knock me out. They stuff me in a car - the next thing I know I'm getting held down in the woods and they're doing some kind of ceremony around me, pouring water, burning stuff, just, weird voodoo sh--."

The camera cuts Omar off and Jimenez is pensively walking towards the camera on a downtown Houston street. "But here's where the story takes an even more disturbing turn. Vasquez's cousin, Richard Martinez, who has been missing since that same night, was known to host what neighbors describe as occult gaming sessions."

A young man's voice plays over a few shots of South Park houston and its wood-sided, single-story 50s-era homes. A couple of street signs: Martin Luther King, Westover. There's a pitbull with clipped ears skirting behind two houses, and the camera lingers on a yard full of broken appliances and shopping carts stuffed with scrap metal.

"Every week, people would come over to my neighbor house with all these books and dice. They'd be in the back porch for hours talking about demons and casting spells. I always thought it was just weird kid stuff, but now..."

The camera cuts to Dr. Patricia Windham sitting in some cheap office cubicle, identified as "CULT EXPERT" in bold graphics, and her bob makes her head look like a tootsie roll pop wearing oversized glasses. "What many parents don't realize is that these fantasy role-playing games often serve as gateways to actual occult practices. Young people start by pretending to cast spells and summon demons, but for some, the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur."

Jimenez nods gravely as the camera cuts back to him. "Police say they cannot confirm any direct connection between the gaming activities and the ritual kidnapping, but the timing has raised serious concerns in this community already struggling with..."

The camera pans across a train yard, chemical plant smokestacks in the distance, then quickly cuts away.

"...various challenges."

"Vasquez was found wandering Highway 288 early Saturday morning," Jimenez continues, "disoriented and suffering from what doctors describe as severe psychological trauma. The three suspects remain at large. Police describe them as two women and one man, all appearing to be in their twenties. If you have any information about this case, you're urged to contact Crime Stoppers immediately."

The camera cuts to a middle-aged Black pastor with an enviable moustache that makes up for a hairline that has fundamentally failed him. The caption identifies him as Pastor James Mitchell, Riverside Baptist Church. "This is exactly what we've been warning parents about," he says. "These games may seem harmless, but they open doors to spiritual darkness that can have very real consequences."

Back to Jimenez: "So what can parents do to protect their children? Channel 11 has spoken with local experts who say the warning signs are clear."

Back to Dr. Windham: "Look for books about fantasy or the occult, unusual dice with more than six sides, secretive behavior about weekend activities, and sudden personality changes. Parents need to understand that these aren't just games. They're training grounds for real spiritual warfare. Remove these materials from your home, find your child a positive peer group through church or community activities, and don't be afraid to seek professional help if needed."

And back to Jimenez: "Live from HPD headquarters, Mike Jimenez, Channel 11 News."

The TV cuts back to Nancy at KHOU 11's news headquarters. "A troubling story indeed." She staples her smile back on: "Coming up after the break: Is your neighborhood pool safe? New concerns about chemical levels at local swimming facilities..."

The Street Racing Scene

Illegal Racing Turns Violent

IC Date: June 14, 1995 KHOU 11 News

Police are searching for witnesses after a street racing event in northwest Houston ended with multiple fights and property damage early Wednesday morning.

The incident unfolded around 1:15 AM in an industrial parking lot off Highway 290, where approximately 60 people had gathered to watch cars perform stunts and racing demonstrations.

"What started as typical reckless driving quickly escalated into something much more serious," said HPD Lieutenant Robert Chen. "We had reports of fights breaking out, people attacking vehicles with makeshift weapons, and general chaos."

Witnesses described crowds scattering as several individuals began damaging parked cars with tire irons and rocks. Multiple witnesses reported seeing one person attempting to smash the windshield of a silver Honda while the driver was still inside.

"It was like everyone just went crazy," said Maria Santos, who witnessed the event from a nearby 24-hour diner. "One minute people were having fun watching the cars, next minute it was like a riot. I've never seen anything like it."

Three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, including cuts from broken glass. No arrests were made as perpetrators had fled by the time police arrived in force.

HPD's Gang Task Force is investigating whether the incident is connected to ongoing territorial disputes in the Acres Homes community. We'll continue following this story as it develops. Anyone with information about the incident should contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 222 T I P S! And now for a commercial break.

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(Fine print speeds by: "Beach house assembly required. Jet ski floats but does not actually move. Brad sold separately.)