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鈥淚 want this guy cowering in a corner with his dogs wondering when I鈥檓 going to show up and come for him,鈥� Van Dyke said.

An informant captured Van Dyke discussing the potential plots on a recording obtained pursuant to an Open Records Act request by Hatewatch from the Oak Point, Texas, police department. Van Dyke was once a prominent leader in the hate group the Proud Boys.

The existence of the alleged plots surfaced in a lawsuit between Van Dyke and Thomas Christopher Retzlaff of Arizona, an antagonist of Van Dyke.

A report from Oak Point, Texas, police, along with an affidavit for a search warrant of Van Dyke鈥檚 home gave the outline of the plans, which included using the Arizona chapter of the Proud Boys to do surveillance.

Hatewatch requested and received copies of the report and recording from the Oak Point, Texas, Department of Public Safety after references to the alleged plot surfaced in the lawsuit between the men.

The recording obtained from the police department fills in details in Van Dyke鈥檚 own words. On the recording, which runs about 42 minutes, Van Dyke lays out two potential plans, which can be at turns chilling and far-fetched.

The first would have involved the shooting death of Retzlaff near his home in Phoenix. The second would have involved Van Dyke fleeing the country, leaving a fake suicide note, then using the Proud Boys to terrorize Retzlaff through the mail.

The Proud Boys Arizona chapter, in an email to Hatewatch, denied being involved in the alleged surveillance and said they aren鈥檛 associated with Van Dyke.

鈥淧.S. Go [expletive] yourself Nazi,鈥� the group said in an unsigned email 鈥淲ith love, the Arizona Proud Boys.鈥�

Van Dyke, in an email to Hatewatch, said Retzlaff isn鈥檛 trustworthy and that he didn鈥檛 do any of the things he鈥檚 accused of.

鈥淚 deny all of the accusations Mr. Retzlaff has made against me including the conducting of any surveillance on Mr. Retzlaff,鈥� Van Dyke said.

Retzlaff told Hatewatch that the FBI should have arrested Van Dyke once investigators got ahold of the recording.

鈥淚'm [expletive] pissed at the FBI and the police for dragging their feet,鈥� Retzlaff said. 鈥淎nd I'm scared and upset.鈥�

A violent discussion

Van Dyke and Retzlaff are quite familiar with each other. Retzlaff filed a bar complaint against Van Dyke that resulted in the suspension of his law license. Retzlaff also published the bar complaint online, even though such complaints are normally kept secret. The two men have also done legal combat in at least three federal civil suits, including the one in Texas where the police report outlining the alleged murder plot surfaced.

鈥淚 spent the better part of this week planning this out,鈥� Van Dyke said.

On the recording obtained from the Oak Point police department, Van Dyke describes how he used the Proud Boys聽in Arizona to track down the condominium complex where Retzlaff lives, what kind of security is there, what type of cars Retzlaff drives and even how many dogs he has.

Van Dyke, speaking to an unidentified man, said he preferred using a 鈥渓ong gun鈥� to shoot Retzlaff rather than a pistol.

鈥淢ost people survive a pistol shot, and I don鈥檛 want him to survive,鈥� Van Dyke said.

The plan, though, ran into a few hitches. Van Dyke spoke of reviewing satellite images of the condominium complex, the security there and having problems figuring out which cars belong to Retzlaff.

鈥淢y people on the ground have been unable to lay eyes on him, but they鈥檝e got pictures. They鈥檝e got very recent pictures,鈥� Van Dyke said on the recording provided by the police.

Van Dyke eventually concluded that killing Retzlaff at the condominium wasn鈥檛 feasible, so he moved on to a plot to kill his antagonist off-site.

鈥淭he only other place we know he goes is a P.O. box, which is where he gets his mail,鈥� Van Dyke said.

That idea, though, had its own complications.

鈥淭here is a modest amount of parking there, but there is no place that doesn鈥檛 have a significant number of cameras where I could sit up to get a clean shot with a rifle,鈥� Van Dyke said four minutes into the recording obtained from the police.

Van Dyke discussed details about which post office box Retzlaff used, how often he went there and the fact that a post office is federal property.

At this point, an escape also became part of the potential plot.

鈥淭he idea was Arizona being a border state, I take out Retzlaff, once I confirm he doesn鈥檛 have a pulse, I head straight to Mexico and down through there in my truck. 鈥� I can get along in Spanish, I can get gas and stuff,鈥� Van Dyke said.

On the recording, Van Dyke told the unidentified man that he would also kill a Retzlaff associate, and another man Van Dyke deemed responsible for his troubles with the Texas Bar Association.

鈥淩eally the only purpose for them was to ensure that if I am caught, I get the death penalty so I鈥檓 not rotting in prison for the rest of my life,鈥� Van Dyke said about eight minutes into the recording obtained from the Oak Point police. 鈥淭hat was really the only reasoning behind those.鈥�

Psychological terror

On the recording, Van Dyke realized his plot to kill Retzlaff might be unrealistic, so he shifted gears to a possible campaign of psychological terror and faking his own death.

鈥淚 make it extremely obvious that I鈥檝e left everything I own behind and that my target is Retzlaff and I鈥檓 coming straight for him,鈥� Van Dyke said. 鈥淚 even make sure I鈥檓 seen at a gun store with lots of cameras, buying a new rifle and new scope and everything that day, make sure I鈥檓 seen at an indoor range sighting in that scope and buying extremely lethal ammunition that day.鈥�

From there, Van Dyke told the informant, he would leave a note behind at his home in east Texas saying, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to end this, basically.鈥� Believing police would look for him in Houston, where an associate of Retzlaff鈥檚 is based, or Phoenix, where Retzlaff lives, Van Dyke said he would leave the country and head for Mazatlan in Mexico.

Van Dyke talked of going somewhere with a place to stay, where few questions would be asked and the plan to torture Retzlaff psychologically could be executed.

Van Dyke also believed that the FBI and local police would begin a global search for him.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to assume you left the country,鈥� the unidentified man tells Van Dyke on the recording.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to assume I committed suicide. That鈥檚 exactly what I want them to believe and they鈥檙e going to start looking for some stuff,鈥� Van Dyke responds. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l eventually figure out I left the country and that鈥檚 going to drive them to wonder why.鈥�

Once out of the country, Van Dyke said, the plan involved leaving Retzlaff and his associate wondering what would happen.

鈥淚t鈥檒l be the last sane thought it their head,鈥� Van Dyke said. 鈥淭he idea is to psychologically torture them.鈥�

Van Dyke proposed having the Proud Boys in Arizona taking photos of Retzlaff鈥檚 condominium or other photos of him and periodically mailing the pictures to his target in unmarked envelopes from around the country.

鈥淢y idea is to drive him insane and say wow, I really f-----聽with the wrong guy,鈥� Van Dyke said. 鈥淭he only way I can do it convincingly is to leave everything behind so that he believes that the only thing I鈥檝e got left, that the last thing I want to do in this life is to kill him.鈥�

Van Dyke hoped to have Retzlaff 鈥渓iving in fear鈥� and wondering if or when he would return.

Van Dyke also insisted on the recording that the stalking and psychological torture he was contemplating wouldn鈥檛 be a serious crime. Staying out of the country for seven years would allow the relative statutes of limitation to run out on any crime, and his law license would already have been revoked, Van Dyke said.

鈥淲hat are they doing to do? Prosecute me for skipping town without telling anyone and with my own money?鈥� Van Dyke said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good one.鈥�

Continuing litigation

Van Dyke鈥檚 plots caught on the recording provided by the police haven鈥檛 come to fruition.

Police in Oak Point, Texas, documented the plot in a report, but didn鈥檛 arrest anyone. A grand jury declined to press charges in 2019.

For now, the litigation between Van Dyke and Retzlaff continues unabated.

No trial date has been set in the case.

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