Stu Wexler

Is there evidence that the FBI talked to him about it? Is it documented?

Again: we have the Alyea film which shows what is clearly an MC rifle found where people said it was found. There are some claims that should no longer be propagated.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/02/stephen-miller-green-card-immigration-1630406

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01287-2#Sec4

While we are talking about Pena. More than once he made reference to a guy named Wilfredo Mas as a key player in the New Orleans exile community and possibly in the JFK case. There is virtually nothing on someone named Wilfredo Mas. Anyone know more? Stu

I tried to find Roache. He is dead. I tried to find people who knew him and worked with him. Found one but he was not much help. Weisberg has some stuff on Smith in his files. It seemed as if he showed up somewhere Weisberg was meeting a witness. The unfortunate thing is that David Smith is far too common a name. Many years ago I did an old NARA online search for Customs/INS files. Many files appeared to have been destroyed. Stu

Now that is clear that ET is also in the John Hunt photos, I believe it is imperative that we get both Gary Murr and David Mantik to offer their thoughts on the matter. When did Mantik, for instance, do his analysis? Gary M did his before John Hunt had those pictures taken. It is still the case that an HSCA workup on all the ballistics materials showed no markings for ET. I will go back to them and double check one more time when I can. Again, they were not specifically looking for initials. But they noted the initials on each fragment/round as well as discolorations, etc. I think it may behoove us to see if any of said analysts are still alive and willing to comment. I am not anti Steve Roe on this. I think he did a service by finding the initials. Earlier in the year Greg D also thought he saw Todd's initials and I think he would confirm that all I did was to encourage him to dig deeper. He came back and, to his credit, said they were not there. Here I do see them both on Roe's and Hunt's photos. I hope we get some follow up. And ofcourse it does not mean CE399 caused all the non-fatal wound damage to JFK and JBC. I still put that at a very low probability. And finally I want to say that any insinuation that John Hunt deliberately hid something is absurd. He was a friend and someone of the highest integrity. His contributions to JFK and RFK research are immense. Indeed, his work on the diminished velocity theory of the SBT is as devastating as anything on the subject. Stu

Ofcourse the question some of us are asking: what does he say about Gene Wheaton's allegations?

The HSCA firearms panel did a microscopic analysis and reported every nook and cranny they saw on lab reports. They were not specifically looking for initials but they reported everyone but Todd's. David Mantik and Gary Murr looked in person. John Hunt had high resolution photos that are online. And Gregg D. went looking with the same NIST stuff a few months ago only to say he was wrong and did not see them. I am actually hoping he (and Gary M) both comment on this. Did Gregg do a thorough search or only the area he suspected had the initials? I would normally concede this but all of the above has me a bit suspicious as it came after Stone's film advertised it widely. If Greg and Gary (and Mantik) concede they could have missed it. I am inclined to say it has been missed. Stu

Steve, I went back to that thread and saw that you had someone looking into it at Fairleigh Dickinson. Any word on that? I am in NJ and an willing to go and look. Stu

Was it Truly or Shelly who had outside payment?

Wait. Malcolm has a picture of Oswald in Florida?

I do not have time at the moment to go into it, but I have presented on this before. The "Oswald" in the Bolton Ford incident was very likely Charles Waters a hanger-on with anti-Castro militants. He is a very interesting character. That said this does not have to be some elaborate plot. My guess: Tujague got pissed that a former employee went to the commies and those in his circle were not opposed to using it as some sort of inside joke. I do think it could have become something else by 63, including involving Waters.

David Wimp pointed this out years ago. I think it definitely is a key insight that requires explanation.

So the photographer item has not been previously released? Obviously it came from somewhere so it upsets the official version whether he was actually in Mexico City or not.

So is there new material in the doc beyond what was in Tink's book?

I don't remember where I got this; it might have been you, Vince. But seems to me this is a pretty important lead worth following

While there is near unanimity on this forum that there was a conspiracy, if Prayer Man is Oswald it would effectively end the discussion for everyone else. Photo people: is it possible to do serious digital enhancement work on a once-removed version of Darnell? Or does it have to be the original. And can we get original access to Weigman?

It is one thing to say that witnesses can be unreliable. But for basically every single witness in the immediate area to fail to notice it is a problem anything pointing to Hickey is a problem. As per the rear entry wound in the EOP. I do not dismiss it. But the issue is if it is in the EOP you not only have the 6.5mm fragment up near the cowlick but you have radiating fracture lines right near it. Curious how you explain that without X-ray tampering. Side note. I once explored in a lot of depth an account, given by Donahue's daughter, that he had been given access to a film, from a different vantage point than Zapruder, in Germany. Donahue had passed by that time. No luck despite considerable effort on my part to verify. Did you ever explore this?

You are correct Mark. But I had another person fire two bullets off an oak and into dirt. If you could average the two bullets you would have CE399, almost exactly. The bullet also had a more profound deflection than anyone expected.

Yes. But there is some level of bend on CE399 that suggests it struck *something.* I saw an oak tree branch and some dirt.

I am watching the start of the documentary now. As you said earlier, Mantik confirmed the lack of markings. But you did not say how much credit you gave to John Hunt. As his friend, it was fantastic to see his work getting as much credit as it deserved. I hope he is smiling somewhere from beyond.

I believe Walt Brown has argued that there was cross-contamination of fibers to various items based on how they were stored and shipped from Dallas to DC. Eg it would not be planting but it also would not support Oz's guilt.

The problem with that is that it was routine and required and so you would have to think that in the most important moment of his career Elmer Todd just dropped the ball even though it appears he would have engraved it right when everyone else did. I guess it is possible. My better bet: CE399 deflected off an oak tree limb into the wet dirt in DP. It may be the bullet Walther found. A separate bullet from Parkland is sent earlier, the one engraved by all the techs including Todd. This other bullet, presents a problem bc it is inconsistent with other rounds. So it is deep sixed (for fear that any conspiracy leads to WW3.) Once that bullet is trashed, the one that arrives from Dallas that struck the dirt and becomes CE399 must account for wounds it did not create. Don Thomas independently believes something similar.

Steve you are missing the point so let me clarify it. Elmer Todd initialed *a* bullet recovered from Texas. He later identified his initials on *that same* bullet. If that bullet were CE399 his initials should have been etched in like everyone else who later received it. They are not. What happened to them? You have to argue that they faded away such that no one who has seen it, both live and in high res photos (that you yourself can look at) can find them. Yet initials for other people at the lab who engraved their initials at the same time as Todd, per FBI procedure, are on CE399 and all the other ballistics material those lab techs engraved. So you would have to believe Todd's initials disappeared while the others' markings somehow stood the test of time. *Or* you can believe that another bullet came from Dallas, the one Elmer Todd engraved, is not CE399 and was removed from the evidence stream. Which one is more likely?