Jump to content
The Education Forum

LOST: tape or other records of Rick Russo's 1992 Pittsburgh conference with Floyd Riebe, Dennis David, Paul O'Connor, and James Jenkins?


Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/jfk/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB-Emails/ARRBmails09828.pdf

Memorandum on Rick Russo Videotaped Interviews of Autopsy Witnesses Body: I. IntroductionOn Monday, March 10, 1997, I viewed approximately three hours of a videotaped interview  made by Rick Russo with five witnesses to President Kennedy's autopsy. The witnesses were: Floyd Riebe,  Jerrol Custer, Dennis David, Paul O'Connor, and James Jenkins.The interview was conducted in Pittsburgh  during late 1992 or 1993. Russo had the five men sit at a table together and they were all on camera  answering questions from him (and later Wecht, as well as a few questions from Mark Crouch whose  questions were conveyed through Russo) at the same time. The format sometimes led to more than one  person talking at one time and the questioning was sometimes leading and imprecise. Russo failed to clarify a  lot of statements that were made. Nevertheless, there were some interesting statements made.I will chronicle  below what I believe to be the highlights of what each individual had to say during the interview. Because they  were being interviewed together, I will record what each individual said, in order, as the interview was  conducted. II. The Interview Dennis David (David)He said that the President's body arrived at Bethesda in a  "gray shipping casket," transported in a black hearse. Approximately 25 minutes later, the entourage that  included the First Lady and the Secretary of Defense arrives at the front entrance to the building.Paul  O'Connor (O'Connor)The body arrived in a "grayish pink" casket and was contained in a body bag. The  President's body was unclothed with a sheet around the midsection. He described a massive head wound and  used his hand to describe it, moving from the side head into the back of the head. (As is often the case when  someone is describing the head wound, it was imprecise and the parameters of the wound were not made  clear with his hand.)James Jenkins (Jenkins)The body arrived in a "grayish brown" casket. In response to a  question, O'Connor, Custer and David all said that they heard a helicopter or helicopters around the time that  the official entourage arrived at Bethesda.Jerrol Custer (Custer)He said that he had already taken a full set of x- rays by the time the official entourage arrived at Bethesda.CusterHe said that he took 14 or 15 x-rays of the  President's body. He made three trips out of the morgue to his department to get more film.JenkinsWhen the  sheets were taken off of the unclothed body of the President, Jenkins filled in the cover sheet of the autopsy  report as Boswell dictated to him.O'Connor He said that the bullet wound in the back did not penetrate the  plural cavity. The bullet bruised the intercostal (sp?) muscle, but did not traverse the body.JenkinsHe  described the removal of the organs and the probing of the back wound. At one point, Jenkins said that one  could see the impression of Humes' finger, as he probed the wound, against the plural cavity, but it was not  penetrated. He mentions the use of a "flat probe" and a "20 inch sound(?).Floyd Riebe (Riebe)He first saw the  body when the casket was opened up and he started taking pictures of the body and the procedures. Riebe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...