Case for a New JFK Autopsy

[William Kelly]

A CASE FOR A NEW JFK AUTOPSY

http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/08/case-for-new-autopsy.html

“Renowned JFK assassination expert and professor John McAdams weighs in on the findings of the warren Commission, the deficiencies of the medical and autopsy evidence, and the lack of understanding on the part of the Kennedy camp on the need for a forensic autopsy at the time.”

- NOVA TV special press release.

By William Kelly

The victim was murdered, gunned down on the street in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses.

The cause of death - a bullet to the head, was determined by an autopsy. But after that fact was clearly established, there is complete legal confusion - as the body was improperly removed from the state where the murder occurred before there was a proper forensic autopsy, as required by law. Rather than a proper forensic autopsy – which creates certified evidence that can be used in a court of law, a less thorough regular autopsy was performed, the purpose of which was to determine the cause of death - gunshot to the head.

But there were three different autopsy reports prepared, the doctors who conducted the autopsy did not talk about the wounds with the emergency room doctors who treated them, and there were two brain exams, one of a brain that was not that of the victim.

The photos, x-rays and reports of the autopsy could not be introduced as evidence in a court of law because the technicians who took the photos and x-rays could not identify them as the ones they created, so the provenance - the chain of evidence from the scene of the crime to the grave, is broken and lost, much like our history.

If the victim was an unknown bum found dead in a street gutter and his death was considered suspicious, his remains would be routinely exhumed and given a proper forensic autopsy - one that would produce photos, x-rays and reports that could be introduced as evidence in a court of law.

But justice has been thwarted in this case because the victim was the President of the United States named John F. Kennedy, and political forces have intervened to prevent a proper legal resolution of the case and keep the truth from being known.

The details of the original, botched autopsy are well known. When the doctors in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital in Dallas viewed the wounds within minutes after they were inflicted, they only examined the throat and head wounds. The throat wound they assumed, because of its small size, to be one of entrance, and it was enlarged to insert breathing tubes.

The head wound, as all the Parkland doctors agreed, was a large, grapefruit sized hole in the back of the head, indicating an exit wound, and a flap of bone and flesh on the side of the head above the ear exposed the brain. The large, gaping hole in the back of the President’s head was also confirmed by Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who twice viewed it and confirmed its existence.

Because the President was lying on his back on the hospital gurney,and the nature of the head wounds precluded his survival, the Parkland doctors didn’t turn him over and didn't know there was also an entrance wound in the back, about six inches below the neck.

They did however, find a nearly pristine bullet on a gurney that may have been used to wheel the President or Texas Governor John Connally into the emergency room.

The autopsy doctors, when they discovered the entrance wound in the back, found that the bullet only penetrated a few inches, less than a finger, and the bullet probably fell out and was the one discovered on the gurney at Parkland. A four star military general ordered the doctors not to track the full extent of the back wound.

The next day the autopsy doctors were surprised to learn that the Parkland emergency doctors had enlarged an already existing throat wound – which they believed to be an entrance wound, so it was realized that, even though their conclusion as to the cause of death - gunshot to the head, was correct, the rest of their report was invalid as more information became available from witnesses at Parkland.

Eventually the official report on the assassination concluded that the back wound was not a superficial, two inch deep wound, but did in fact transit the victim and exited his throat, and then inflicted all of the wounds on Governor Connally in the jump seat in front of the President, creating the “Single Bullet Theory,” which is required if all of the wounds were by one gunman shooting from behind.

When the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) investigated the murder in the late 1970s and the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) questioned the doctors, photographers and x-ray technicians in the 1990s, they testified that could not recognize their work, sometimes explaining that the photos in evidence could not have been the ones they took because they were of a different type of film and not from the angles of the photos they took.

In retrospect, everyone with any knowledge of the Bethesda Naval Hospital autopsy agrees that it was a medical and legal abortion, and all of the autopsy reports, exams, x-rays and photos have lost their chain of possession and the provenance necessary for them to be introduced into evidence in a court of law.

Because the cause of death was a “gunshot to the head,” and therefore a murder, this case certainly meets the “suspicious death” threshold necessary for the law to require a new, proper forensic autopsy, one that would answer all outstanding questions and recreate the lost provenance of the chain of evidence in the case.

But since the victim is not an ordinary American citizen, but the President of the United States, the laws, rules and standards are considered different - and rather than give the President the best and most thorough autopsy he deserves, observance of the law is relegated to the feelings of the Kennedy family.

In a press release for the NOVA TV science program Cold Case JFK it is noted that, “Renowned JFK assassination expert and professor John McAdamas weighs in on the findings of the Warren Commission , the deficiencies of the medical and autopsy evidence, and the lack of understanding on the part of the Kennedy cam on the need for a forensic autopsy at the time..”

Indeed, a forensic autopsy is what is needed, and it is one that can and should be done today, in honor of the president on the fiftieth anniversary of his murder.

Society gives the family primary control over the body of the deceased, yet in many cases a coroner,, district attorney or grand jury has the power to order the exhumation of a body for a forensic autopsy, especially in the case of a suspicious death or homicide.

In an academic presentation on the subject of a new autopsy at a 2003 Conference, the topic should have been presented in an objective, unbiased fashion, but instead, an emotional appeal was made to respect the Kennedy family, to honor the revered dead and let them rest in peace.

Well, the revered dead are turning over in their graves and will never rest in peace, and neither will we, until the total truth is determined, including the answers to the many questions concerning the medical evidence and botched autopsy of the President.

The first objection to a proper forensic autopsy is the feelings of the Kennedy family, and like the decision of the Connally family at the death of John Connally, not to permit an autopsy, it has always been assumed that the Kennedy family would also oppose a new, proper autopsy.

John Connally and his wife were sitting just in front of President Kennedy and he was wounded in the same barrage of bullets. The Connallys never believed the “single bullet theory,” and it has been suggested that there is more lead in Connally's wrist than is missing from the so-called “magic bullet.”

When Connally died the Justice Department requested the bullet fragments be removed, but the request was denied by the Connally family.

When the Department of Justice agreed to a request from John T. Orr, Jr. one of the most respected Federal Attorneys, to subject bullet fragments CE567 to further tests, they also noted in a memo for the record that: “...It is our view that the Department has retained investigative jurisdiction over the assassination, though such investigation is restricted to activities which are not based upon the expectation of an eventual federal prosecution. Thus, the examination of evidence in federal possession is seemingly appropriate, (while) obtaining evidence by grand jury subpoena would like be inappropriate. This position was adopted by the Division and endorsed by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General when we declined to seek a court order for exhumation of former Governor Connally’s body following allegations that bullet fragments remaining in his body from the incident would reveal, by weight or composition, the existence of additional bullets.” [For more on CE567 see: http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2012/03/re-wc-ce-567-bullet-fragment-found.html]

It has always been assumed that the Kennedys will deny such a request as well.

That may have been the case with the previous generation who witnessed the public exhumation and butchering of the body of Lee Harvey Oswald, which was done to positively establish his identity.

But today a proper forensic autopsy can be conducted with dignity, it can answer many of the outstanding questions, and will legally reestablish the provenance of the medical evidence in the case.

In fact, with today's modern scientific techniques and equipment, the body can be photographed, x-rayed and given MRI and similar non-intrusive surveys so that the body does not have to be probed at all. These photographs, x-rays and scans will not be gruesome, but are like works of art, and will be studied by forensic science students for generations into the future.

Now that the Kennedy family is led by a new generation who are interested in public service, they should allow for the legal process, established by the Constitution, to function as it should, and permit a proper forensic autopsy, not only in the interest of the Kennedy family, but in the best interests of the nation.

Edited August 13, 2013 by William Kelly

[Ken Davies]

Bill,

I applaud this well written article. I suspect that only JFK's daughter would have the legal right to "approve " of or veto such a process. The other family members could certainly assist in pursuading.

[William Kelly]

Bill,

I applaud this well written article. I suspect that only JFK's daughter would have the legal right to "approve " of or veto such a process. The other family members could certainly assist in pursuading.

Thanks Ken,

As for the Kenndys, well, RFK, Jr. is a lawyer whose opinions on the subject are well known, Caroline has been offered the position of Ambassador to Japan, her cousin is now a Congressman from Massachusetts, Ted and Patrick are considering their options, Townsend is still outspoken on issues, and there's a dozen others in the wings, so they are involved in politics and public service, and permitting the conduct of a new and proper forensic autopsy would be a proper final tribute to JFK.

it's not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when the body is exhumed and subjected to the latest technological tools available.

In fact the body has already been exhumed, in 1967 when the New Orleans Grand Jury was in session and could have requested a proper autopsy had they know the body was being exhumed.

It happened at night, after Arlington cemetery had been closed, when an inquisitive reporter noticed a lot of activity there, and the increased security, and when inquiring further, was taken into custody, as a secret military operation was underway.

The "eternal flame" was doused, the granite and cement markers removed by machines, the casket removed and relocated nearby in a new grave, the small casket of son Patrick (secretly removed from his grave in Mass) was buried next to JFK and it has been suggested that RFK placed JFK's brain in the casket before it was all reburied and the grounds relandscaped before the cemetery was reopened to the public the next day.

So don't say they never will exhume JFK's body because they already did.

BK

Edited August 13, 2013 by William Kelly

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Here's an interesting tid-bit from the first Wecht conference. I asked the autopsy panel, Noguchi, Henry

Lee Gary Aguilar and I forget who else) if everyone agrees with Wecht's book Cause of Death that says a new autopsy is the only way to resolve conflicts in the medical evidence. Gary Aguilar immediately yelled "Absolutely" and Wecht cut off discussion. Since none of these gentlemen are ever backward in coming forward, and no one voiced disagreement, I deduced that we had a consensus of medical opinion.

I did not broadcast this at the time because I think the journals were played out and I was not yet internet savvy.

I tried posting on your Blogsite, Bill, but had problems.

[William Kelly]

Here's an interesting tid-bit from the first Wecht conference. I asked the autopsy panel, Noguchi, Henry

Lee Gary Aguilar and I forget who else) if everyone agrees with Wecht's book Cause of Death that says a new autopsy is the only way to resolve conflicts in the medical evidence. Gary Aguilar immediately yelled "Absolutely" and Wecht cut off discussion. Since none of these gentlemen are ever backward in coming forward, and no one voiced disagreement, I deduced that we had a consensus of medical opinion.

I did not broadcast this at the time because I think the journals were played out and I was not yet internet savvy.

I tried posting on your Blogsite, Bill, but had problems.

Thanks JRC,

I have a DVD of the 2003 Wecht Conference and one guy, and I am trying to find it again but his talk is not properly listed on the table of contents - he must have been on the autopsy panel - but he was very emotional in relating his talk, almost cried at one point, and dismissed the idea of a new autopsy, when I expected a cold, unbiased, objective medial and scientific discussion about a forensic autopsy of a murder victim.

BK

[Pat Speer]

I agree with the spirit of the article, but take issue with a few specific points. My comments in bold.

A CASE FOR A NEW JFK AUTOPSY

http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/08/case-for-new-autopsy.html

“Renowned JFK assassination expert and professor John McAdams weighs in on the findings of the warren Commission, the deficiencies of the medical and autopsy evidence, and the lack of understanding on the part of the Kennedy camp on the need for a forensic autopsy at the time.”

- NOVA TV special press release.

By William Kelly

The victim was murdered, gunned down on the street in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses.

The cause of death - a bullet to the head, was determined by an autopsy. But after that fact was clearly established, there is complete legal confusion - as the body was improperly removed from the state where the murder occurred before there was a proper forensic autopsy, as required by law. Rather than a proper forensic autopsy – which creates certified evidence that can be used in a court of law, a less thorough regular autopsy was performed, the purpose of which was to determine the cause of death - gunshot to the head.

This is misleading, as it makes it sound like Kennedy's autopsy report would be inadmissible in a court of law or some such thing. This is not true.

But there were three different autopsy reports prepared, the doctors who conducted the autopsy did not talk about the wounds with the emergency room doctors who treated them, and there were two brain exams, one of a brain that was not that of the victim.

If you want this article to gain traction, IMO, you should make it as "unkooky" as possible. The two brain exam theory is Doug Horne's theory, and not a conclusion of the ARRB, or even most researchers. it should not be presented as a fact, IMO.

The photos, x-rays and reports of the autopsy could not be introduced as evidence in a court of law because the technicians who took the photos and x-rays could not identify them as the ones they created, so the provenance - the chain of evidence from the scene of the crime to the grave, is broken and lost, much like our history.

This is not accurate. When shown the originals by the ARRB, Custer and Reed IDed the x-rays as ones they'd taken, and Stringer IDed the photos of the autopsy as ones he'd taken. Perhaps you're getting confused with the brain photos. which the nearly 80-year old Stringer thought inconsistent with the photos he'd taken.

If the victim was an unknown bum found dead in a street gutter and his death was considered suspicious, his remains would be routinely exhumed and given a proper forensic autopsy - one that would produce photos, x-rays and reports that could be introduced as evidence in a court of law.

But justice has been thwarted in this case because the victim was the President of the United States named John F. Kennedy, and political forces have intervened to prevent a proper legal resolution of the case and keep the truth from being known.

The details of the original, botched autopsy are well known. When the doctors in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital in Dallas viewed the wounds within minutes after they were inflicted, they only examined the throat and head wounds. The throat wound they assumed, because of its small size, to be one of entrance, and it was enlarged to insert breathing tubes.

The head wound, as all the Parkland doctors agreed, was a large, grapefruit sized hole in the back of the head, indicating an exit wound, and a flap of bone and flesh on the side of the head above the ear exposed the brain. The large, gaping hole in the back of the President’s head was also confirmed by Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who twice viewed it and confirmed its existence.

This is misleading. The Parkland witnesses did not describe a wound on the back of the head AND a flap of bone on the side of the head. They described ONE wound, which many, but not all, thought to be at the uppermost part of the far back of the head, and not where many, but not all, CTs, pretend it was, on the far back of the head at the level of the ear. As far as Clint Hill, in recent years he has demonstrated what he meant when he said the wound was on the back of the head, and has pointed to a location at the top of the head above the right ear.

Because the President was lying on his back on the hospital gurney,and the nature of the head wounds precluded his survival, the Parkland doctors didn’t turn him over and didn't know there was also an entrance wound in the back, about six inches below the neck.

Six inches below the neck? The autopsy report said it was 14 cm (about 5 1/2 inches) below the base of the skull.

They did however, find a nearly pristine bullet on a gurney that may have been used to wheel the President or Texas Governor John Connally into the emergency room.

The autopsy doctors, when they discovered the entrance wound in the back, found that the bullet only penetrated a few inches, less than a finger

Humes testified that it was actually more shallow than that.

, and the bullet probably fell out and was the one discovered on the gurney at Parkland. A four star military general ordered the doctors not to track the full extent of the back wound.

The next day the autopsy doctors were surprised to learn that the Parkland emergency doctors had enlarged an already existing throat wound – which they believed to be an entrance wound, so it was realized that, even though their conclusion as to the cause of death - gunshot to the head, was correct, the rest of their report was invalid as more information became available from witnesses at Parkland.

Eventually the official report on the assassination concluded that the back wound was not a superficial, two inch deep wound, but did in fact transit the victim and exited his throat, and then inflicted all of the wounds on Governor Connally in the jump seat in front of the President, creating the “Single Bullet Theory,” which is required if all of the wounds were by one gunman shooting from behind.

When the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) investigated the murder in the late 1970s and the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) questioned the doctors, photographers and x-ray technicians in the 1990s, they testified that could not recognize their work, sometimes explaining that the photos in evidence could not have been the ones they took because they were of a different type of film and not from the angles of the photos they took.

This is a gross exaggeration. Stringer disavowed the brain photos when speaking to the ARRB. That's it.

In retrospect, everyone with any knowledge of the Bethesda Naval Hospital autopsy agrees that it was a medical and legal abortion, and all of the autopsy reports, exams, x-rays and photos have lost their chain of possession and the provenance necessary for them to be introduced into evidence in a court of law.

Well, that would be a shame, considering the reports, exams, x-rays and photos make a convincing case for more than one shooter.

Because the cause of death was a “gunshot to the head,” and therefore a murder, this case certainly meets the “suspicious death” threshold necessary for the law to require a new, proper forensic autopsy, one that would answer all outstanding questions and recreate the lost provenance of the chain of evidence in the case.

But since the victim is not an ordinary American citizen, but the President of the United States, the laws, rules and standards are considered different - and rather than give the President the best and most thorough autopsy he deserves, observance of the law is relegated to the feelings of the Kennedy family.

In a press release for the NOVA TV science program Cold Case JFK it is noted that, “Renowned JFK assassination expert and professor John McAdamas weighs in on the findings of the Warren Commission , the deficiencies of the medical and autopsy evidence, and the lack of understanding on the part of the Kennedy cam on the need for a forensic autopsy at the time..”

Indeed, a forensic autopsy is what is needed, and it is one that can and should be done today, in honor of the president on the fiftieth anniversary of his murder.

Society gives the family primary control over the body of the deceased, yet in many cases a coroner,, district attorney or grand jury has the power to order the exhumation of a body for a forensic autopsy, especially in the case of a suspicious death or homicide.

In an academic presentation on the subject of a new autopsy at a 2003 Conference, the topic should have been presented in an objective, unbiased fashion, but instead, an emotional appeal was made to respect the Kennedy family, to honor the revered dead and let them rest in peace.

Well, the revered dead are turning over in their graves and will never rest in peace, and neither will we, until the total truth is determined, including the answers to the many questions concerning the medical evidence and botched autopsy of the President.

The first objection to a proper forensic autopsy is the feelings of the Kennedy family, and like the decision of the Connally family at the death of John Connally, not to permit an autopsy, it has always been assumed that the Kennedy family would also oppose a new, proper autopsy.

John Connally and his wife were sitting just in front of President Kennedy and he was wounded in the same barrage of bullets. The Connallys never believed the “single bullet theory,” and it has been suggested that there is more lead in Connally's wrist than is missing from the so-called “magic bullet.”

When Connally died the Justice Department requested the bullet fragments be removed, but the request was denied by the Connally family.

When the Department of Justice agreed to a request from John T. Orr, Jr. one of the most respected Federal Attorneys, to subject bullet fragments CE567 to further tests, they also noted in a memo for the record that: “...It is our view that the Department has retained investigative jurisdiction over the assassination, though such investigation is restricted to activities which are not based upon the expectation of an eventual federal prosecution. Thus, the examination of evidence in federal possession is seemingly appropriate, (while) obtaining evidence by grand jury subpoena would like be inappropriate. This position was adopted by the Division and endorsed by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General when we declined to seek a court order for exhumation of former Governor Connally’s body following allegations that bullet fragments remaining in his body from the incident would reveal, by weight or composition, the existence of additional bullets.” [For more on CE567 see: http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2012/03/re-wc-ce-567-bullet-fragment-found.html]

The tests on CE 567 suggest there was more than one shooter.

It has always been assumed that the Kennedys will deny such a request as well.

That may have been the case with the previous generation who witnessed the public exhumation and butchering of the body of Lee Harvey Oswald, which was done to positively establish his identity.

But today a proper forensic autopsy can be conducted with dignity, it can answer many of the outstanding questions, and will legally reestablish the provenance of the medical evidence in the case.

In fact, with today's modern scientific techniques and equipment, the body can be photographed, x-rayed and given MRI and similar non-intrusive surveys so that the body does not have to be probed at all. These photographs, x-rays and scans will not be gruesome, but are like works of art, and will be studied by forensic science students for generations into the future.

Now that the Kennedy family is led by a new generation who are interested in public service, they should allow for the legal process, established by the Constitution, to function as it should, and permit a proper forensic autopsy, not only in the interest of the Kennedy family, but in the best interests of the nation.

Amen.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Pat Speer

[William Kelly]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for reading and responding.

There were three autopsy reports filed and two of them would be inadmissible.

The two brain exam was confirmed independently by Horne's boss (Gunn) and written up in the Washington Post.

A close examination of the records seems to confirm the two brain exams, and a doctor who viewed a photo of one of the brains said it could not have been JFK's brain since its color indicated it had been kept in a solution in a jar on a shelf for a few weeks, before the assassination occurred.

As for the photos and x-rays, more than one photographer - one a women - refused to identify the photos they took, and without the photographer or x-ray tech standing by their work, they are inadmissible.

I don't know as much about the medical and autopsy evidence as you do, but the law requires a proper forensic autopsy, and not a regular one - as the cause of death is established - it is how the cause of death occurred is what must be determined.

Whatever happened, the forensic tools available today can determine more precisely exactly what happened, so there won't be any more questions or debates over how many inches the back wound was, whether it went through to the throat, how big the hole in the back of the head was and whether it was an entrance or exit wound.

They may have screwed it up then, but we have learned a lot in the past fifty years, including how to conduct a proper forensic autopsy without political interference.

There probably won't ever be an occasion for the evidence to be introduced in a court of law, as the authorities are reluctant to convene a grand jury as the Constitution provides, it is just a matter of principle and determining the truth.

I will make some suggested changes in this article in order to get it wider distribution and possibly published somewhere.

BK

Edited August 14, 2013 by William Kelly

[Pat Speer]

More comments in bold.

Hi Pat,

Thanks for reading and responding.

There were three autopsy reports filed and two of them would be inadmissible.

Not sure what you mean by autopsy report. The only one that mattered was Humes' report. It was a signed report by the doctor charged with doing the autopsy. If someone has been telling you that to be admissible, a report has to to be perfect, they are leading you astray.

The two brain exam was confirmed independently by Horne's boss (Gunn) and written up in the Washington Post.

Confirmed? While it's true Gunn gave Horne a lot of room in which to push his theories, it's unclear whether Gunn personally believed any of it. And the ARRB, as an entity, never embraced it. As far as the Washington Post...a number of recent articles have covered the Hickey-did-it angle; it doesn't mean they believe it, and it doesn't make it true.

A close examination of the records seems to confirm the two brain exams, and a doctor who viewed a photo of one of the brains said it could not have been JFK's brain since its color indicated it had been kept in a solution in a jar on a shelf for a few weeks, before the assassination occurred.

What doctor? Is this something Horne came up with?

As for the photos and x-rays, more than one photographer - one a women - refused to identify the photos they took, and without the photographer or x-ray tech standing by their work, they are inadmissible.

Saundra Spencer did not take photos of the autopsy. She developed some photos a few days later, and was not interviewed for decades afterward. Her recollection that the photos looked different than the ones now in the record is meaningless, from a legalistic point of view. Not when the autopsy doctors and photographer have repeatedly confirmed their authenticity.

I don't know as much about the medical and autopsy evidence as you do, but the law requires a proper forensic autopsy, and not a regular one - as the cause of death is established - it is how the cause of death occurred is what must be determined.

Not sure where you've got this from. The purpose of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death. The purpose of a forensic autopsy is to determine the cause of death when there is a question about who was responsible. Kennedy received a lousy forensic autopsy. What law are you talking about? Do you have its exact wording?

Whatever happened, the forensic tools available today can determine more precisely exactly what happened, so there won't be any more questions or debates over how many inches the back wound was, whether it went through to the throat, how big the hole in the back of the head was and whether it was an entrance or exit wound.

They may have screwed it up then, but we have learned a lot in the past fifty years, including how to conduct a proper forensic autopsy without political interference.

There probably won't ever be an occasion for the evidence to be introduced in a court of law, as the authorities are reluctant to convene a grand jury as the Constitution provides, it is just a matter of principle and determining the truth.

I will make some suggested changes in this article in order to get it wider distribution and possibly published somewhere.

Good deal.

BK

[Kathleen Collins]

Bill,

I applaud this well written article. I suspect that only JFK's daughter would have the legal right to "approve " of or veto such a process. The other family members could certainly assist in pursuading.

Thanks Ken,

As for the Kenndys, well, RFK, Jr. is a lawyer whose opinions on the subject are well known, Caroline has been offered the position of Ambassador to Japan, her cousin is now a Congressman from Massachusetts, Ted and Patrick are considering their options, Townsend is still outspoken on issues, and there's a dozen others in the wings, so they are involved in politics and public service, and permitting the conduct of a new and proper forensic autopsy would be a proper final tribute to JFK.

it's not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when the body is exhumed and subjected to the latest technological tools available.

In fact the body has already been exhumed, in 1967 when the New Orleans Grand Jury was in session and could have requested a proper autopsy had they know the body was being exhumed.

It happened at night, after Arlington cemetery had been closed, when an inquisitive reporter noticed a lot of activity there, and the increased security, and when inquiring further, was taken into custody, as a secret military operation was underway.

The "eternal flame" was doused, the granite and cement markers removed by machines, the casket removed and relocated nearby in a new grave, the small casket of son Patrick (secretly removed from his grave in Mass) was buried next to JFK and it has been suggested that RFK placed JFK's brain in the casket before it was all reburied and the grounds relandscaped before the cemetery was reopened to the public the next day.

So don't say they never will exhume JFK's body because they already did.

BK

Bill, you might know that I tend to be all over the place with my own interests regarding Kennedy. The first thing I want to say is I saw photos of this moving of the coffin. But when I tried to find them again, one important one was missing. To the best of my recollection, there was one photo of Ted Kennedy by the grave and next to him on the ground was a stainless steel container. Rich Dellarosa and I discussed this. We speculated about it. Could it be what was left of the brain?

Then I don't remember where I read this or saw a film about it: When the coffin was taken to the White House, the Kennedys looked at it. Jackie said, "It's not him," and walked away. Robert Kennedy and Schlesinger (?) looked at it and Bobby said, "It doesn't even look like him." His friend said, "It's a wax dummy. Close the coffin."

After awhile, the people from the funeral home closed the casket. They wouldn't allow the Kennedys looking at him again. Someone said they did this because somehow the body was back in the funeral home, having a second autopsy. But really, it was to destroy the bullet paths. Then they sewed up his head. And somehow the body of John Kennedy was put back in the coffin. But this seems unlikely. Wherever I got this information from, it said that the body of John Kennedy was secretly cremated, possibly with the family's permission. Then maybe that stainless steel container held the ashes of the assassinated president, John F. Kennedy. (I did not get this material from the National Enquirer.)

There will be no autopsy. This material I've read recently, but I can't put my finger on where I read this. Possibly on the Internet. I hope someone recognizes it. A document exists of all the cremations the funeral pallor did for November 1963. The dead people are named. In late November there is written that a cremation was done, but doesn't include the name.

Kathy C

[William Kelly]

Connally Bullet Fragments

JFKCountercoup2: Connally Bullet Fragments

...In connection with the issue of the fragments in Gov. Connally's wrist and thigh at the time of his death. Shortly before he died, I was made aware that he was expected to die shortly. On behalf of Dr. Cyril Wecht, Dr. Gary Aguilar and two or three other doctors, I wrote a letter petitioning Attorney General Janet Reno to have the fragments extracted from Connally, weighted and scientifically examined before he was interred. My recollection is that I had to leave for San Francisco on a trip to Singapore before I completed my draft of the letter. I faxed it back to a young kid, Jonathan Meyers, who had started working for the AARC. I seem to recall that he had been connected with COPA in some way. He thought he knew all the answers to the JFK assassination. I gave him instructions to deliver the letter tot he Justice Department and get copies out to the press, including George Lardner of the Washington post. He balked at that. He didn't want to have anything to do with George Lardner, who he considered evil incarnate and part of the conspiracy. I told him in no uncertain terms to get it delivered to George Lardner and the next morning the Post ran a front-page story on it. A copy is attached below. The morning the story appeared, I was contacted by ABC-TV. I stopped by their studio and gave an interview, then got on the plane for the trip to Singapore. Arriving in Singapore a day later, my wife and I went to stay at the home of one of her sisters. The story made the front page of the Singapore Straights-Times, Singapore's leading English language newspaper, duly impressed my relatives.

Reno Is Urged to Recover Bullet Pieces From Connally

By George Lardner, Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer

John F. Kennedy assassination researchers asked the Justice Department yesterday to try to recover bullet fragments from the body of the late Texas governor John B. Connally before he is buried.

Connally was wounded while riding with President Kennedy when he was killed in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The Warren Commission concluded that one shot hit both men almost simultaneously before Kennedy was hit by another, fatal, bullet.

In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, the head of the non-profit Assassinations Archives and Research Center, James H. Lesar, said that if this one bullet did not cause all the wounds the two sustained before the fatal shot, “then more than one assassin must have hit the president.” Lesar pointed out that Connally himself maintained that he and Kennedy were hit by separate bullets.

Lear was joined in his request by Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Commission's work, and five other doctors. They said that neutron activation analysis and other tests of

the fragments “may be able to resolve the controversy as to whether President Kennedy was assassinated as the result of conspiracy.”

The “single bullet” theory is crucial to the Warren Commission's findings because one gunman could not have wounded both Kennedy and Connally with separate shots in the chaotic, split-second interval when they were hit.

Tests for the House assassinations committee in 1978 matched fragments of the metal taken from Connally's wrist with the nearly intact bullet that was found on a stretcher at Parkland Hospital and was believed to have dropped out of Connally's thigh. But questions about the authenticity of those fragments arouse because they did not match any of the fragments tested years earlier, by the FBI. The FBI fragments had disappeared.

Gary Mack says that the Connally family did not receive the request until they were at the grave site, and that they would have seriously considered it and possibly agreed to permit the removal of the bullet fragments from the body had they been asked earlier.

Gary Mack:

Connally died Tuesday, June 15, 1993 and was buried about 48 hours later, so events moved very fast. The request, which I think originated with Larry Howard, proprietor of the local JFK Assassination Information Center, was picked up by his partner Gary Shaw, and relayed to Jim, Mark and Charles who asked Attorney General Janet Reno, who apparently referred it to the FBI:

ww.nytimes.com/1993/06/18/us/fbi-backs-plan-to-remove-connally-bullet-fragments.html

Julian Read confiremd to me recently that word reached the family at the gravesite, and that's what his quote says.

F.B.I. Backs Plan to Remove Connally Bullet Fragments

By David Johnston
Published June 18, 1993

The FBI today endorsed the idea of removing bullet fragments from John B. Connally, former Texas Governor who died Tuesday, in the hope of laying to rest the controversy over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Connally, who was buried today at a state cemetery near Austin, Tex., was wounded in the back, wrist and thigh while riding with Kennedy in a Dallas motorcade when the President was killed on November 22, 1963.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation here and in Dallas said they favored exhuming the body and trying to recover the fragments if the Connally family consented. “If the family will allow this to be done, we could put this to rest,” said Olvier B. Revell, the head of the F.B.I. Office in Dallas. “Conspiracy theorists are not going to let this go away.”

Mr. Revell said there was a fragment in one of Mr. Connally's thighs and perhaps some traces in a wrist. An examination of the fragments could test the single-bullet theory accepted by the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination. The panel concluded that a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired all the shots that hit the President and Mr. Connally as they rode in the motorcade in Dallas.

Gary Mack:

Connally died Tuesday, June 15, 1993 and was buried about 48 hours later, so events moved very fast. The request, which I think originated with Larry Howard, proprietor of the local JFK Assassination Information Center, was picked up by his partner Gary Shaw, and relayed to Jim, Mark and Charles who asked Attorney General Janet Reno, who apparently referred it to the FBI:

ww.nytimes.com/1993/06/18/us/fbi-backs-plan-to-remove-connally-bullet-fragments.html

Julian Read confiremd to me recently that word reached the family at the gravesite, and that's what his quote says.

F.B.I. Backs Plan to Remove Connally Bullet Fragments

By David Johnston
Published June 18, 1993

The FBI today endorsed the idea of removing bullet fragments from John B. Connally, former Texas Governor who died Tuesday, in the hope of laying to rest the controversy over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Connally, who was buried today at a state cemetery near Austin, Tex., was wounded in the back, wrist and thigh while riding with Kennedy in a Dallas motorcade when the President was killed on November 22, 1963.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation here and in Dallas said they favored exhuming the body and trying to recover the fragments if the Connally family consented. “If the family will allow this to be done, we could put this to rest,” said Olvier B. Revell, the head of the F.B.I. Office in Dallas. “Conspiracy theorists are not going to let this go away.”

Mr. Revell said there was a fragment in one of Mr. Connally's thighs and perhaps some traces in a wrist. An examination of the fragments could test the single-bullet theory accepted by the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination. The panel concluded that a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired all the shots that hit the President and Mr. Connally as they rode in the motorcade in Dallas.

Edited August 17, 2013 by William Kelly

[Kathleen Collins]

I made a mistake about who was with Bobby Kennedy to view his brother in the coffin. It was Robert McNamara. McNamara said, "Close the coffin. It's a wax dummy." I read today that the funeral home covered his face with wax because there was shrapnel on his face. I know we're talking about autopsies here, but I read the preparation of the body and a "second" autopsy. After the Kennedys saw the body -- somehow the body was secretly taken and given another "autopsy." Supposedly, they ruined all the bullet wounds, so if there was an exhumation the team would be unable to prove whether the shots came from the back or front. I believe this weighed on the Kennedys' mind. And it's quite possible he was cremated. (Even though the Catholic Church back then did not believe in cremation until they realized all the real estate they were losing.) I have tried all day to find where I read that. I remember they said that at the first funeral parlor his eyes were removed. Does this ring a bell with anyone? It sounds like Lifton; and the dueling coffins. Has anyone read before that he was cremated? If they exhume his coffin, they might be in for a surprise.

Kathy C

[Micah Mileto]

On 8/14/2013 at 11:08 PM, Kathleen Collins said:

Bill, you might know that I tend to be all over the place with my own interests regarding Kennedy. The first thing I want to say is I saw photos of this moving of the coffin. But when I tried to find them again, one important one was missing. To the best of my recollection, there was one photo of Ted Kennedy by the grave and next to him on the ground was a stainless steel container. Rich Dellarosa and I discussed this. We speculated about it. Could it be what was left of the brain?

Then I don't remember where I read this or saw a film about it: When the coffin was taken to the White House, the Kennedys looked at it. Jackie said, "It's not him," and walked away. Robert Kennedy and Schlesinger (?) looked at it and Bobby said, "It doesn't even look like him." His friend said, "It's a wax dummy. Close the coffin."

After awhile, the people from the funeral home closed the casket. They wouldn't allow the Kennedys looking at him again. Someone said they did this because somehow the body was back in the funeral home, having a second autopsy. But really, it was to destroy the bullet paths. Then they sewed up his head. And somehow the body of John Kennedy was put back in the coffin. But this seems unlikely. Wherever I got this information from, it said that the body of John Kennedy was secretly cremated, possibly with the family's permission. Then maybe that stainless steel container held the ashes of the assassinated president, John F. Kennedy. (I did not get this material from the National Enquirer.)

There will be no autopsy. This material I've read recently, but I can't put my finger on where I read this. Possibly on the Internet. I hope someone recognizes it. A document exists of all the cremations the funeral pallor did for November 1963. The dead people are named. In late November there is written that a cremation was done, but doesn't include the name.

Kathy C

Where did the cremation story come from? Anyone?