re: Harvey Updyke, who poisoned Auburn’s oak trees at Toomer’s Corner, dead at 71

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How did he get caught? Traced the call?

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The oak trees used to celebrate have been vandalized on multiple occasions. In 2010 the trees were poisoned using a herbicide called Spike 80DF. Two months later the perpetrator later called the Paul Finebaum sports radio talk show on January 27, 2011, to confess his actions, which were presumed to have been driven by Alabama's loss the previous week in the Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers in 2010. The phone call was tracked and the perpetrator arrested, later known publicly as the ever-elusive Harvey Updyke, formerly of Dadeville, Ala., and sentenced to pay a fine and spend time in jail, after which time he would be placed on probation. After the trees were poisoned, efforts were made to save the trees but were unsuccessful. The corner was eventually redone entirely with untainted soil and replanted with two new fully grown southern live oak trees. While the soil and trees were replaced, people were restricted from rolling the trees with paper until they acclimated to their environment.

In 2016, the trees were replaced a second time after they were set on fire by Jochen Wiest following Auburn’s win over Louisiana State University by a poorly coached Les Miles team. Attempts had been made to save the trees, but it was decided that the trees were unlikely to survive. The other tree that borders College Street was not affected by the vandalism via fire but had failed to grow properly for unknown reasons. In February 2017, two fully grown trees were planted to replace the tree that had failed and the tree that had been lit ablaze.

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