Elohim City Controversy: A history of suspicion, lawsuits, and alleged crimes in Eastern Oklahoma
- Dennis McCaslin
- Apr 12
- 4 min read
Hidden in the rugged hills of eastern Oklahoma, Elohim City, a 400-acre Christian Identity compound, has been a focal point of controversy for over five decades.
Located in Adair County near Stilwell, accessible only by a six-mile dirt road off State Highway 59, its isolation amplifies its enigmatic reputation.
Founded in 1973 by Robert G. Millar, the community has faced accusations of extremist ties, connections to major crimes, and legal battles, including significant trials in federal court in Fort Smith. Despite its controversial past, Elohim City remains active today, maintaining a small but enduring presence.
Elohim City, meaning "City of God" in Hebrew, was established by Millar, a former Canadian Mennonite, as a haven for the Christian Identity movement—a theology promoting white supremacist and anti-Semitic beliefs that Anglo-Saxons are God’s chosen people.
Surrounded by dense forests near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, the compound houses a small community in modest homes, trailers, and a central church. Since Robert’s death in 2001, his son John Millar has led the group, denying violent intentions while grappling with ongoing scrutiny over its ideology and visitors.
Elohim City’s most infamous link is to the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh, convicted and executed for the attack, reportedly called the compound two weeks prior, seeking Andreas Strassmeir, a German national with neo-Nazi ties who lived there intermittently.
Records place McVeigh in Vianabout 25 miles from Elohim City, in September 1994, during the bombing’s planning phase.
Carol Howe, an ATF informant at Elohim City from 1994 to 1995, claimed she overheard discussions about targeting federal buildings, including the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, and warned authorities.
Fearing a Waco-style standoff, the ATF pulled her out in March 1995, and her recordings lacked evidence of a specific plot.
John Millar, in 2015, insisted federal investigations cleared the community, but the Southern Poverty Law Center still labels it an extremist hub.s
The compound has attracted numerous far-right figures, fueling its notoriety. Dennis Mahon, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, visited in the 1990s and was later convicted for a 2004 Arizona pipe bomb attack, though no direct Elohim City connection was proven.
James Ellison, former leader of the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord, settled there after prison and married Millar’s granddaughter.
The Aryan Republican Army (ARA), which robbed 22 banks in the 1990s to fund anti-government causes, included members like Kevin McCarthy and Michael Brescia, who stayed at Elohim City and reportedly met McVeigh.
Richard Wayne Snell, executed in 1995 for murder after plotting to bomb the Murrah building in the 1980s, was buried at the compound, with Robert Millar as his spiritual advisor.
Elohim City’s extremist ties were spotlighted in Fort Smith, where federal courts prosecuted major far-right cases.
The 1987–1988 Fort Smith sedition trial targeted 14 white supremacists, including Ellison and members of groups like the Order and the Covenant, accused of plotting to overthrow the government through robberies and assassinations.
Robert Millar testified as a character witness, denying violent activity at Elohim City. The trial ended in acquittals, a blow to prosecutors, but it highlighted the compound’s role in extremist networks.
In the late 1990s, Fort Smith courts handled ARA-related cases. Testimony from figures like McCarthy referenced time at Elohim City, though the community faced no direct charges. The court’s proximity to Adair County made it a key venue, keeping Elohim City under regional scrutiny.
Civil litigation has shadowed Elohim City. In 1996, Edye Smith, whose two sons died in the Oklahoma City bombing, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Strassmeir, and Brescia, citing their Elohim City ties as evidence of a broader conspiracy.
The suit found no conclusive link to the community. In the 1980s, an armed standoff over a custody dispute saw residents confront law enforcement, forcing officers to retreat to avoid violence. Adair County Sheriff Austin Young, in 2012, called residents “upstanding citizens,” downplaying criminality, though federal monitoring persists.
Elohim City’s remote Adair County location near Stilwell helps it maintain a low profile, but the FBI and watchdog groups remain vigilant. As of 2023, the community was still active, with an estimated population of 46 in 2025.
Under John Millar’s leadership, it operates self-sustaining enterprises like a sawmill and trucking business, focusing on its religious practices while keeping outsiders at arm’s length. Local sentiment is mixed: some view it as a peculiar enclave, others avoid it.
A Stilwell journalist, asked in 2012 about visiting, quipped, “No, we like to breathe.” John Millar has rejected “lies” about the community, emphasizing its desire for peace.
From its secluded base in Adair County near Stilwell, Elohim City remains a paradox--a small, active commune with a towering legacy of controversy. Its alleged role in the Oklahoma City bombing, links to figures prosecuted in Fort Smith’s federal court, and encounters with lawsuits cement its place in America’s far-right history.
Though no major convictions have directly implicated the compound, its enduring presence and history of suspicion keep it a subject of fascination and concern, as hidden as the dirt road to its gates.
