Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

$
Instagram posts
Instagram posts
stated on July 17, 2023 an Instagram post:

Former FBI agent Ted Gunderson was murdered.

False
By Ciara O'Rourke
July 18, 2023

Former FBI agent Ted Gunderson wasn’t murdered. He died of cancer, according to family

If your time is short

  • Former FBI agent Ted Gunderson died of cancer in 2011, according to his son.
See the sources for this fact-check

Conspiratorial music plays while a man in an Instagram video appears to say: “I personally investigated the Oklahoma City bombing case — huge cover up. Jack Kennedy’s assassination, huge cover up. Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, huge cover up, World Trade Center, huge cover up.”

Text flanking the video says, “FBI Ted Gunderson” and “This is why they killed him!!! Because anyone saying the truth out there on mainstream doesn’t last!”  

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Gunderson was a former special agent for the FBI and head of the bureau’s Memphis office who retired in 1979 —  before the Oklahoma City bombing — and started a private security and investigations firm. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center said that “he became fixated on the idea that children are regularly subjected to Satanic ritual abuse” and that he became a “leading conspiracy-monger,” making videos “alleging an invisible cabal called the Illuminati had plans to run the world.”

But he wasn’t murdered for his beliefs.

His son, Greg Gunderson, told The Associated Press in 2011 that his father died of cancer that year at the age of 82. 

We rate claims he was killed False.

 

Our Sources

Instagram post, July 17, 2023

The Associated Press, Former Memphis FBI chief Gunderson dies, Aug. 19, 2011

Southern Poverty Law Center, FALSE PATRIOTS, May 8, 2001

 

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke
Viral image
stated on April 2, 2025 a Facebook post:
“White hats to investigate Wisconsin Supreme Court election.”
False
Facebook posts
stated on March 28, 2025 a Facebook post:
Photo shows a missing police officer in “extreme danger.”
Pants on Fire!
Facebook posts
stated on March 28, 2025 a Facebook post:
Images show damage from an “earthquake in Thailand.”
False

Former FBI agent Ted Gunderson wasn’t murdered. He died of cancer, according to family





Donald Trump
stated on May 4, 2026 a White House event:








Donald Trump
stated on April 23, 2026 remarks at the White House:







Chris Wright
stated on April 19, 2026 an interview on CNN's "State of the Union":