On January 8, 2021, the FBI begged the public for information regarding the identity of Suspect 16, Ray Epps, and even offered a cash reward.
The public obliged, and in less than three days, Ray Epps was identified as Suspect 16. Researchers corroborated his identity with troves of unassailable direct evidence, including an effective confession from Epps himself to his own local newspaper.
Then, on July 1, between the hours of 3:37 a.m. and 5:55 p.m., the FBI finally took action on Ray Epps. But not to prosecute him, or to announce a sweeping investigation or FBI SWAT raid on Epps’s house for all of his phones and electronics. Instead, someone at the FBI quietly and stealthily purged every trace of Ray Epps from the Capitol Riots Most Wanted database.