The Auburn tree poisoning was carried out in late 2010 by Harvey Updyke, a retired Texas state trooper and fanatical Alabama football fan who applied a commercial herbicide to the two live oaks at Toomer’s Corner on Auburn University’s campus. He pleaded guilty to a felony in 2013, was ordered to pay roughly $800,000 in restitution he never meaningfully paid, and died in 2020 with the debt outstanding. Auburn removed the poisoned oaks in 2013, and after a 2016 arson destroyed the first set of replacements, planted the trees that stand there today in February 2017.
Who Harvey Updyke Was and Why He Did It
Harvey Almorn Updyke Jr. was born October 9, 1948, in Edinburg, Texas, and spent his career as a Texas state trooper.1L.N. Hughes Funeral Home. Harvey Updyke Jr. Obituary His devotion to Alabama football ran deep enough that he named one of his children Bear, after coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, and another Crimson.
By his own account, Updyke snapped after Auburn’s 28-27 comeback win over Alabama in the 2010 Iron Bowl. He was further inflamed by Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s season and by the sight of an Auburn jersey draped on the Bear Bryant statue in Tuscaloosa.2Montgomery Advertiser. Harvey Updyke, Auburn Oak Trees, and Toomer’s Corner He later told CBS News in 2019 that he committed the act because he “wanted Auburn people to hate me as much as I hate them.”
Sometime after that Iron Bowl, Updyke applied a herbicide called Spike 80DF to the soil around both oaks.3AL.com. Alabama Fan Harvey Updyke, Poisoner of Auburn Trees, Dead at 71 Its active ingredient, tebuthiuron, is absorbed through roots and moves into a tree’s foliage. He bought a four-pound bag, and later lab testing confirmed fatally high concentrations of tebuthiuron in soil, bark, and leaf samples from both trees.2Montgomery Advertiser. Harvey Updyke, Auburn Oak Trees, and Toomer’s Corner The trees, planted between 1937 and 1939, were the ones fans traditionally covered in toilet paper after big Auburn wins.4Auburn Tigers. Rolling Toomer’s Corner
How He Got Caught
The case might have gone unsolved if Updyke had stayed quiet. In January 2011, he called into The Paul Finebaum Show, a Birmingham sports talk program, using the alias “Al from Dadeville.” On the air he told Finebaum, “I put Spike 80DF in ’em. They’re not dead yet, but they definitely will die.”5Montgomery Advertiser. Toomer’s Corner Oak Trees History Finebaum said afterward that he didn’t initially believe him.6Yahoo Sports. Paul Finebaum on Harvey Updyke Jr.
Auburn police detective Jay Sewell and chief Tommy Dawson worked the calls after the broadcast. Dawson cold-called candidates who matched “Al,” and in one exchange baited Updyke with a false accusation of adultery, provoking him into confirming his identity. Around the same time, an Auburn Police Department administrative assistant named Drucilla Cooper took a tip line call from a man offering information about the poisoning. She kept him talking and asked his name. He replied, “Updyke. Harvey Updyke.”2Montgomery Advertiser. Harvey Updyke, Auburn Oak Trees, and Toomer’s Corner
Detectives got Updyke to come in for an interview, where he admitted making the radio call. A search warrant at the Lake Martin home where he was staying didn’t produce the computer investigators believed held his herbicide research, but swabs from his car’s steering wheel and dashboard tested positive for Spike 80DF. He was arrested in his front yard on February 17, 2011, at 1:26 a.m. and initially charged with one count of first-degree criminal mischief.7ESPN. Arrest in Toomer’s Corner Tree Poisoning Bond was set at $50,000.8CBS News. Harvey Updyke Mug Shot, Arrest Made in Toomer’s Corner Tree Poisoning
The Guilty Plea and Sentence
Updyke was eventually indicted on multiple charges, including criminal mischief, desecration of a venerated object, and unlawful damage to a crop facility. Jury selection began at the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika in June 2012, but the case did not reach a verdict. In March 2013, Updyke pleaded guilty in Lee County Circuit Court to a single felony count of criminal damage of an agricultural facility before Judge Jacob A. Walker II.9AL.com. Harvey Updyke Pleads Guilty
The plea carried a three-year split sentence: six months of incarceration followed by five years of supervised probation. Updyke received credit for 104 days already served and ended up serving more than 70 additional days in the medical pod of the Lee County Detention Center.9AL.com. Harvey Updyke Pleads Guilty10WSFA. Harvey Updyke Arrested, Charged With Terrorizing
The Restitution He Never Paid
In December 2013, Judge Walker ordered Updyke to pay $796,731.98 in restitution to Auburn University, at $500 a month.11ABC7 New York. Harvey Updyke Has Paid Just $99 With added fees and fines, the balance came to $816,679.98.12Tuscaloosa News. Judge Orders Harvey Updyke to Pay $700 in Restitution or Face Arrest By September 2014, he had paid $99, a single payment made that July. The judge denied his request to cut monthly payments to $50.
In December 2014, Judge Walker found Updyke “willfully in contempt.” The court ordered $100 a month withheld from his Texas state trooper retirement, directed him to cancel cable television, smartphone service, and home internet, and imposed eight hours of community service per week.12Tuscaloosa News. Judge Orders Harvey Updyke to Pay $700 in Restitution or Face Arrest Another contempt citation followed in January 2017 after Updyke skipped a payment-schedule hearing; by that point he had paid only a few thousand dollars.13ABC 33/40. Judge Issues Contempt Citation for Updyke
By August 2019, Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes reported Updyke had paid less than $5,000 and had made only two payments totaling $200 in the prior year. Hughes summoned him to court that October, saying, “As long as I am in this office and he is still breathing, I am going to be a bur in his side under his saddle and make sure he pays what he owes.”14AL.com. Harvey Updyke Summoned to Court for Failing to Pay for Toomer’s Poisoning Updyke skipped that court date.15KTRE. Former Lufkin Man Skips Court Date in Auburn Tree Poisoning
His Death
Updyke died on July 30, 2020, at 71, at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana.1L.N. Hughes Funeral Home. Harvey Updyke Jr. Obituary The cause was reported as natural. Court filings had documented coronary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, strokes, and depression.16ABC News. Harvey Updyke Poisoned Auburn’s Iconic Toomer’s Corner Trees At his death he had paid roughly $6,900 of the roughly $800,000 he owed.17ESPN. Updyke, Poisoner of Toomer’s Corner Trees, Dies
What Happened to the Trees
Auburn spent three years trying to save the original oaks, digging trenches and applying activated charcoal to absorb the herbicide, but the trees were unrecoverable and were cut down in April 2013.18Landscape Performance Series. Samford Park at Toomer’s Corner5Montgomery Advertiser. Toomer’s Corner Oak Trees History Workers excavated and hauled off 1,778 tons of contaminated soil. By 2014 Auburn announced the soil was clear.
Two 35-foot live oaks from a nursery in Ehrhardt, South Carolina, were planted on Valentine’s Day 2015 as part of a $900,000 Samford Park redevelopment.19ESPN. Auburn Tigers Restore Toomer’s Corner Oak Trees Each tree cost $5,000 to $7,000, roughly 20 times what a smaller replacement would have run, chosen for their ability to handle heavy campus foot traffic.18Landscape Performance Series. Samford Park at Toomer’s Corner A second phase in spring 2016 added 30 smaller descendant trees grown from acorns of the original oaks, along the brick walkway to Samford Hall.20Auburn University. Oaks News Updates
The 2016 Fire
The 2015 replacements didn’t last long. On September 24, 2016, after Auburn beat LSU 18-13, a 29-year-old German national named Jochen Wiest set fire to the toilet paper draped over one of the trees.21ABC 33/40. One Detained Following Toomer’s Oak Fire He was first arrested for public intoxication and then charged with first-degree criminal mischief (a felony because the damage exceeded $2,500), desecration of a venerated object, and public intoxication.22WTVM. Suspect in Toomer’s Corner Tree Fire Charged With Criminal Mischief A judge refused to return his passport, and by December 2016 his attorney filed papers indicating he would plead guilty to all three charges.23Fox 5 Atlanta. Attorney Says German Man Reaches Plea Deal in Auburn Tree Fire
The Magnolia Avenue tree was severely damaged, and the College Street tree had failed to properly establish. Auburn removed both and planted a second pair of replacements in February 2017. Those are the oaks at Toomer’s Corner today.24Auburn University. The Auburn Oaks at Toomer’s Corner
Rolling the Trees Again
To let the new oaks root and grow, Auburn asked fans not to roll them, a moratorium that lasted years. In August 2023, Auburn President Christopher B. Roberts announced the trees were “stable” and had made “excellent” progress, and that rolling would resume for the 2023 season opener against UMass.25Alabama Reflector. Auburn University President Says Toomer’s Oaks Are Stable, Rolling Will Resume Justin Sutton, Auburn’s director of landscape services, said the pause had been a “short-term request” meant to protect the trees’ “long-term establishment, overall health and projected long life.”26WVTM 13. Auburn Announces Fans Can Roll Two Auburn Oaks at Toomer’s Corner The oaks remain under weekly health assessments.5Montgomery Advertiser. Toomer’s Corner Oak Trees History