RUTH and BARD . . . A Review

[Leslie Sharp]

' . . . [Ruth Paine] felt comfortable enough with “Bob” to visit Marina Oswald’s bedroom alone with SA Odum, who was at the Irving home to pick up Lee’s wedding ring for Marina.  From Ruth’s testimony:

Ruth Paine. “I gave it (the ring) to Mr. Odum who was in the room with me—Mr. Odum went with me to the bedroom.” (3H111-112)

On another occasion, Ruth and Bardwell examined the content of Marina’s [dresser] drawers.  From testimony:

Ruth Paine. . . . I think she must have known that Lee had been to Mexico, judging from the materials I have already described were picked up by Mr. Odum and myself from the dresser drawer. (9H385)

Ruth also had a conversation with “Bard” about the General Walker shooting before there was reason to believe that Lee was involved.  From testimony:

Ruth Paine. I don’t know whether your accounts of what the FBI has it down of their conversation with me include one meeting with Bardwell Odum, right after the newspapers had indicated something of a shot at Walker, before there was any corroborative details such as the contents of a note. (9H387)

Ruth Paine. Agent Odum has been out a great deal. (9H106)

Ruth Paine. I would guess that I report to Mr. Odum other things about— ... I talked with him a great deal. (3H10-7) 

— Raymond Gallagher, The Fourth Decade

 

'Since Ruth mentioned the Walker shooting: whatever happened to the recovered slub from General's house?

From testimony:'

Mr. Belin. Do you know whether or not any balistic identification was made of this slug with regard to any rifle it may have been fired from"

Lt. Day. No sir, I released it to the FBI Agent B.D. Odum on December 2, 1963, at 4:10 pm. 

Mr. Belin.  Has that ever been back in your possession since that time?

Lt. Day. Not since that time. (10H271)

— Raymond Gallagher, The Fourth Decade

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=48706#relPageId=20&search=9H387

see also: 
' . . . Also, on May 28, 1964, Dallas Police Lieutenant J. C. Day advised an FBI Agent that on April 25, 1963, ". . . he took the bullet from the CSSS, marked it for identification . . . " and then personally took it to the City-County Criminal Investigation Laboratory (CCCIL), Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Texas, where he gave it to F. T. Alexander and Louie L. Anderson.  Lieutenant Day also advised that he retrieved the Walker bullet from the CCCIL on December 2, 1963, and gave it to FBI Special Agent Bardwell D. Odum on the same date. 

Special Agent Odum forwarded the Walker bullet to FBI Laboratory where it arrived for examination on December 4, 1963.' 

ADMIN FOLDER-O1: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, HSC-A TICKLER VOLUME VI, pg 9

RIF#: 124-10371-10117   (07/10/79)    FBI#: 62-117290-ADMIN FOLDER-O1 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10040#relPageId=7&search=cccil

Oswald Tied to Shot at Walker

NYTimes, March 20, 1964
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/20/archives/oswald-is-linked-to-shot-at-walker.html

[Ron Bulman]

Leslie Sharp

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Posted July 14, 2023 · IP  (edited)

  On 7/12/2023 at 9:47 AM, Steve Thomas said:

Paul,

A number of other policemen from that same Second Platoon, Headquarters Station show up in the JFK story.

In addition to Marvin Wise, Billy Bass was one of the Patrolmen.

Sergeant Rio Pierce and Patrolman Ray Vaughn appear in the Oswald shooting on the 24th.

Joe M. Poe is at the scene of the Tippit shooting.

Captain Cecil Talbert takes command of the TSBD shooting scene and also shows up in the alley behind the Texas Theater.

John Adamcik searches the Paine home in Irving on the 22nd and 23rd.

Kenneth Lyon is one of the Policemen who drive Oswald from the Theater back to Headquarters.

Jimmy Valentine is the driver of of the infamous Car# 207.

Notorious group of people.

Steve Thomas

Expand  

@Paul Cummings @Bill Brown @Steve Thomas

I ask about SA Odum, Steve, because he appeared on the scene at critical locations in the early hours and days of the investigation including several on your list:

The late great Raymond Gallagher referred to Dallas-based FBI SA Bardwell Dewitt Odum as "the ubiquitous bard":



Ruth's " Handler " Bardwell D. Odum, FBI SA
His office: The empty house next door to Ruth.

"It is twice the pleasure to deceive the deceiver."
Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) French poet.

Michael had known Agent Bardwell "Bob" Odum prior to
November 22nd. (9 H 444)

On page 783, in Vol. 15, of the Warren Commission Hearings, we see
the
name Odum listed twice, once as Bardwell D. Odum and again as Hart
Odum. Both listings are the same man. He was a special agent of the
FBI and was stationed in Dallas at the time of the JFK assassination.
His name is seldom mentioned by researchers, yet he was probably the
most assiduous investigator involved in the 1963-1964 investigation.

Odum was in the TSBD at the time that the murder weapon was found.
Later, Lt. Day drove Odum to the police station with the weapon. Odum
was seen and photographed leaving the building with Day at sometime
close to 1:45 pm.

Acording to Day, the agent used the car radio to contact his FBI
office to describe the rifle. 4H264, Meager, p.100.

SA James P. Hosty Jr. mentions the Bard numerous times, and it is
Hosty who is witness and reporter to the spirit-like nature of SA
Odum.

It was between 1:45 and 2:00 pm. that Odum and Day made the
delivery to Lt. Day's office at Main and Harwood Streets in downtown
Dallas. At the very same time, according to Hosty, Bardwell was at
the Texas Theater witnessing the arrest of LHO. Odum, himself made a
statement (HSCA document #01431) describing his observing the arrest.

His statement begins: "At approximately 2 p.m., November 22, 1963, I
was informed by an unidentified policeman of the DPD that a suspect
had been seen entering the back door of the Texas Theater. I
immediately proceeded to the Texas Theater...."

Dallas police radio transcripts reveal that at 1:51 pm. car No. 2
radioed to the dispatcher that they were on their way in with the
suspect (WR. p, 179).

Talk about double Oswalds, now we have a double Odum.

In Dallas, the agent was well acquainted with Michael and Ruth
Paine. Mike called the agent BOB; Ruth called him Mr. Odum and
sometimes Hart.

Additional notes on the bard:
Odum was never called before the Warren Commission and the only time he surfaces during the hearings was during Sylvio Odio's testimony. He walked in, stayed for only a few minutes, and left the room. Odum had also been present in Dallas Police HQ when the bogus photo of Oswald arrived from MC; despite Hosty's insistent the photo wasn't Oswald, Bard insisted that they take the photo to Marina for identification (where they were blocked by Marguerite).

Edited July 14, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

•  
• Quote
•  

[Joe Bauer]

13 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

It was between 1:45 and 2:00 pm. that Odum and Day made the
delivery to Lt. Day's office at Main and Harwood Streets in downtown
Dallas. At the very same time, according to Hosty, Bardwell was at
the Texas Theater witnessing the arrest of LHO. Odum, himself made a
statement (HSCA document #01431) describing his observing the arrest.

His statement begins: "At approximately 2 p.m., November 22, 1963, I
was informed by an unidentified policeman of the DPD that a suspect
had been seen entering the back door of the Texas Theater. I
immediately proceeded to the Texas Theater...."

Dallas police radio transcripts reveal that at 1:51 pm. car No. 2
radioed to the dispatcher that they were on their way in with the
suspect (WR. p, 179).

Talk about double Oswalds, now we have a double Odum.

In Dallas, the agent was well acquainted with Michael and Ruth
Paine. Mike called the agent BOB; Ruth called him Mr. Odum and
sometimes Hart.

Additional notes on the bard:
Odum was never called before the Warren Commission and the only time he surfaces during the hearings was during Sylvio Odio's testimony. He walked in, stayed for only a few minutes, and left the room. Odum had also been present in Dallas Police HQ when the bogus photo of Oswald arrived from MC; despite Hosty's insistent the photo wasn't Oswald, Bard insisted that they take the photo to Marina for identification (where they were blocked by Marguerite).

Never asked to testify before the Warren Commission? 

With all his firsthand engagement with many of the most important principles?

Typical selective investigative process.

[Leslie Sharp]

@Joe Bauer Yes, we know the Warren Commission failed miserably when they didn't call Odum to testify; and why would their investigators fail to recognize his 'ubiquitous' role, or did they?  But, beyond that, why have researchers who rail against the WC Report ignored the one FBI Agent whose finger was in virtually every pie of the Dallas investigation?  Raymond Gallagher realized Odum's significance and published in Fourth Decade decades ago; Bill Simpich picked up the gauntlet, as have we in Coup in Dallas. 

 

It appears the requisite innate curiosity of those who interviewed Ruth and Michael over the years was lacking.  I've searched recent Ed Forum threads focused on the Paine couple for any mention of the apparent personal relationship they shared with SA Bard Odum prior to the assassination and find nothing.  Those who vigorously defend Ruth in particular seem to either be disinterested or to have deliberately avoided the history. With that, I would ask @Greg Doudna whether he pursued specifics from Ruth's testimony presented in this thread? 

 

@Ron Bulman  I haven't located the full document referenced here (HSCA #01431). Have you? Simpich may have a link to it in his essay available on MFF.

 At the very same time, according to Hosty, Bardwell was at
the Texas Theater witnessing the arrest of LHO. Odum, himself made a
statement (HSCA document #01431) describing his observing the arrest.

His statement begins: "At approximately 2 p.m., November 22, 1963, I
was informed by an unidentified policeman of the DPD that a suspect
had been seen entering the back door of the Texas Theater. I
immediately proceeded to the Texas Theater...."
 

 

[Leslie Sharp]

 

SA Bardwell Odum provides fascinating bookends to the November 23, 1963 DMN article first to report a possible link between the Walker shooting and the assassination of President Kennedy: 

 

Gallagher writes that Ruth also had a conversation with “Bard” about the General Walker shooting before there was reason to believe that Lee was involved.  From testimony:

Ruth Paine. I don’t know whether your accounts of what the FBI has it down of their conversation with me include one meeting with Bardwell Odum, right after the newspapers had indicated something of a shot at Walker, before there was any corroborative details such as the contents of a note. (9H387)

Dallas Morning News

November 23, 1963

"Officials Recall Sniper Shooting At Walker Home"

Police Friday were not overlooking a possibility that President Kennedy's assassin may have been the mystery sniper who shot at Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker last April 10.

A rifle bullet was fired into the study of Walker's North Dallas [??]  home at 4011 Turtle Creek by a sniper who used a backyard fence to stead his aim. The bullet slammed into a wall barely an inch from the former general's head.

Police determined that the bullet was fired from a 30.06 rifle.

The sniper attack occurred two nights after th Walker had returned from a coast to coast anti-Communist crusade which he called "Midnight Alert."
 

From HSCA files some sixteen years later:

. . . Lieutenant Day also advised that he retrieved the Walker bullet from the CCCIL on December 2, 1963, and gave it to FBI Special Agent Bardwell D. Odum on the same date. 

Special Agent Odum forwarded the Walker bullet to FBI Laboratory where it arrived for examination on December 4, 1963.

 

 

 

Edited February 11 by Leslie Sharp

[Ron Bulman]

Talk about double Oswalds, now we have a double Odum. 

Yep.  Two Oswald's in the Texas Theater, two Odum's in different places at the same time.  If he was at the TSBD when the rifle was found and went with Day to take it to DPD HQ then he didn't have time to get to the TT in time for Oswald's arrest.  From what I remember of the timing, I should check.  Kind of like Oswald from the rooming house, to shoot Tippit then on to the TT.

If Odum was told by a DPD officer a suspect was seen entering the back door of the TT, is that where he went.  How would a suspect enter a normally (one would think) locked back door?  No other reports of such? 

Maybe he did rush to the back door.  And observed the arrest of the man Butch Burroughs and Bernard Haire saw taken out of the back door?  To be sure Harvey or Lee, one, was lost to history? 

[Leslie Sharp]

2 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Talk about double Oswalds, now we have a double Odum. 

Yep.  Two Oswald's in the Texas Theater, two Odum's in different places at the same time.  If he was at the TSBD when the rifle was found and went with Day to take it to DPD HQ then he didn't have time to get to the TT in time for Oswald's arrest.  From what I remember of the timing, I should check.  Kind of like Oswald from the rooming house, to shoot Tippit then on to the TT.

If Odum was told by a DPD officer a suspect was seen entering the back door of the TT, is that where he went.  How would a suspect enter a normally (one would think) locked back door?  No other reports of such? 

Maybe he did rush to the back door.  And observed the arrest of the man Butch Burroughs and Bernard Haire saw taken out of the back door?  To be sure Harvey or Lee, one, was lost to history? 

A similar discussion transpired recently on the 'Reiner talks about two Oswalds' thread.

I think it's important to retrace Gallagher's steps to confirm that records indicate two Odums. I read a subtle nuance or irony in the phrase as if he's a bit incredulous. 

 

The reason for this thread is to prompt a review of Bard Odum's role in the Paine's life pre-assassination (if any), and how that might have affected the investigation.

[Jonathan Cohen]

I believe this is just more pointless "what if," evidence-free insinuations about the Paines.

[Leslie Sharp]

5 hours ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

I believe this is just more pointless "what if," evidence-free insinuations about the Paines.

Ruth's own testimony is evidence she and Michael were on first name basis with SA Bard Odum.  

Following leads is hardly inappropriate given the implications.

Ruth sat on the November 9 Kostin letter until after the assassination.  Why?  Had she phoned the number Hosty left with her on November 1 and shared that a former defector was attempting to redefect with wife and child, would Hosty have moved post-haste to interview Oswald?  Did she prompt Odum to pursue the Walker incident?  Had the Paines ever mentioned to Bard that the Russian wife of an American defector was living with Ruth?  Why was Odum teamed with Hosty the evening of the 22nd?

Why is Odum in virtually every critical scene in the early weeks of the investigation and in particular the first forty-eight hours, yet he is never called to testify before the WC:

TSBD bldg.

rifle

Texas Theatre arrest

Tippit shooting scene

Search of Paine home

Mexico City photograph

Marguerite and Marina

#399

Sylvia Odio

Walker fragment

etc.

 

Edited February 11 by Leslie Sharp

[Ron Bulman]

8 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Why is Odum in virtually every critical scene in the early weeks of the investigation and in particular the first forty-eight hours, yet he is never called to testify before the WC:

TSBD bldg.

rifle

Texas Theatre arrest

Tippit shooting scene

Search of Paine home

Mexico City photograph

Marguerite and Marina

#399

Sylvia Odio

Walker fragment

It's almost like he's the FBI's version of the media's Hugh Aynesworth.

[Joe Bauer]

9 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Sylvia Odio

Sylvia Odio? In what way?

[Leslie Sharp]

8 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Sylvia Odio? In what way?

Mr. LIEBELER. Did you say that you also started working at a new job that same day?
Mrs. ODIO. No, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you had been working on the day that you did move? 
Mrs. ODIO. I started working initially the 15th of September, because it was too far away where I lived in Irving. I started the 15th of September, I am almost sure of the 15th or the 9th. Let me see what day was the 9th. It was a Monday. It was the 9th, sir, that I started working at National Chemsearch.
(Special Agent Bardwell O. Odum of the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the hearing room.)
Mr. LIEBELER. This is Mr. Odum from the FBI. As a matter of fact, Mr. Odum was the man that interviewed you.
Mrs. ODIO. I remember. He looked very familiar. 
Mr. [LIEBELER]. What is the name? 
Mr. [sic] ODIO. I interview so many people, it slips my mind at the moment.
Agent Odum left the hearing room…
 

[Joe Bauer]

26 minutes ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Mr. LIEBELER. Did you say that you also started working at a new job that same day?
Mrs. ODIO. No, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you had been working on the day that you did move? 
Mrs. ODIO. I started working initially the 15th of September, because it was too far away where I lived in Irving. I started the 15th of September, I am almost sure of the 15th or the 9th. Let me see what day was the 9th. It was a Monday. It was the 9th, sir, that I started working at National Chemsearch.
(Special Agent Bardwell O. Odum of the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the hearing room.)
Mr. LIEBELER. This is Mr. Odum from the FBI. As a matter of fact, Mr. Odum was the man that interviewed you.
Mrs. ODIO. I remember. He looked very familiar. 
Mr. [LIEBELER]. What is the name? 
Mr. [sic] ODIO. I interview so many people, it slips my mind at the moment.
Agent Odum left the hearing room…
 

Ah...I see.

 

[Bill Simpich]

Leslie Sharp provided me with invaluable assistance as I put together this section from The Twelve Who Built the Oswald Legend: Epilogue - https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Oswald_Legend_12.html

FBI agent Bardwell Odum kept an eye on the Paines

FBI officer Wally Heitman (the key Spanish-speaker in the Dallas office) had a close colleague - Bardwell Odum. Odum was a native Texan, whose brother Arthur was vice consul at the Venezuelan consulate at Maracaibo during 1963. While Heitman specialized in working with the Russians and the Cubans as a valued CIA liaison for the Dallas office, Odum was a senior criminal specialist and a favorite of Dallas FBI chief Gordon Shanklin.  

Heitman was the man who met Eldon Rudd on the tarmac the night of the assassination. Rudd was delivering documents provided to him by CIA Mexico City chief Win Scott - a photo of the Mystery Man that Scott allegedly believed was Oswald, and wiretap transcripts allegedly of Oswald. A memo indicates that audiotapes from Mexico City also made it to Dallas.  

Within less than 24 hours, Odum showed Marguerite Oswald the "Mystery Man photo" described in Part 10 on November 23 - which Marguerite later claimed was a photo of Jack Ruby - shown to her one day before Ruby killed Oswald. Marguerite's mistake in confusing the Mystery Man for Ruby has distracted researchers from realizing that Odum was a major player - he was entrusted with these very important CIA documents very early on.

Like Heitman, Odum was a veteran in the world of intelligence. As discussed in Part 12, Michael Paine said he knew him as "Bob Odum" before the assassination, while the Irving barber Cliff Shasteen regularly gave haircuts to both Oswald and Odum before the assassination. Odum spent many years as a contact to Ruth Paine after the assassination. I believe Odum was the FBI man who "handled" the Paines both before and after the assassination - whether they knew it or not.

Oswald told Ruth that he left a note for "the agents" at the FBI office. Ruth told the Warren Commission that she believed it until she learned after the assassination that it was "another lie" by Oswald.

In 1975, when the Oswald note to Hosty was finally revealed to the public, most of the agents at the office admitted they knew the story. But not Odum.

Bardwell Odum with Marina Oswald on 11/23/63.

Odum claimed to Ruth that he had never known about the Oswald visit to the Dallas FBI office - even though just about everyone else did! When Ruth found out that Oswald had actually delivered the note to Hosty, she blurted out Odum's name to the media as her source.

She then called Odum and apologized, saying that "it's all my fault". Ruth referred to Odum as "her primary contact".

The relationship between Hosty and Odum is also fascinating. To hear Hosty tell the story in his book Assignment: Oswald, Odum knew all about how Hosty was ordered to destroy the note Oswald brought to the FBI office as soon as Hosty's boss Shanklin heard that Oswald was dead. Odum denies every word of Hosty's account - stating that if any FBI agent was involved in destroying evidence, he "would not forget it".

Odum had a lot to forget about. He was busy on November 22 and afterwards. Martha Moyer and Raymond F. Gallagher wrote articles that schooled me over the years about Mr. Odum's busy schedule.  Researcher Leslie Sharp knew I was hot on Odum's trail, and she reminded me just how busy he was from the very first moments after JFK was shot.

We first see Odum driving J. C. Day from the book depository to put the alleged assassination rifle into a locked evidence box in Day's fourth floor office at the police department - Odum called in over the FBI radio channel that has now disappeared into the ether without a trace. We then see Odum stationing himself as a guard in the lobby of the Texas Theatre, watching Oswald being frog-marched away. Curiously, Odum was allegedly standing inside the theater near FBI counterintelligence officer Robert Barrett and Dallas Captain Pinky Westbrook. Like Odum, Barrett has also told his share of whoppers. Barrett told a variety of stories about whether or not he was looking for bullets with Detective Buddy Walthers in Dealey Plaza in the moments after the assassination.

Similarly, when Westbrook was videotaped holding a wallet similar to Oswald's at the Tippit death scene, Barrett claimed that Westbrook told him that the wallet had both Oswald and Hidell's ID in it - on other occasions, Barrett falsely told the news media that a card with "O. H. Lee" on it was also found in the wallet. The lies of Odum and Barrett were designed to confuse everyone about the key events surrounding the assassination.

By 1:51 pm, the Dallas radio transcript shows that Jerry Hill and his colleagues are en route to headquarters with Oswald. Hill was with Luke Mooney on the sixth floor when they claimed to find the Mannlicher-Carcano hulls that matched the rifle that Odum escorted to the evidence room. Odum is busy.

Then Odum shows up at the searches of Ruth Paine's home. Ruth felt that Marina "must have known that Lee went to Mexico", based on the materials from Mexico that she and Odum allegedly found while going through Marina's dresser drawers. He's busy.

A ring of contradictions

Oswald has a ring on his left hand.

On November 22, a ring can be seen on Oswald's left hand, which later disappears. It might be his wedding ring, but even if it is his Marine ring - and someone should be able to figure this out - it still doesn't really matter. Like much of the evidence, the chain of custody of these two rings is hotly contested.

Researcher Timothy Cweik did a great job studying this situation - he pointed out that Marina made two contradictory statements. On 12/3/63 she said that she saw Oswald's wedding ring left behind when she woke up that morning, even though it was on his hand the previous evening. But she didn't see the ring on her dresser that morning - she only saw it after the police arrived that afternoon.  

Marina made two other contradictory statements. She said that she called Ruth Paine and told her about finding the ring on her dresser - important, because that was right about the time that Marina was taken into protective custody by the Secret Service. But when Ruth testified to the Warren Commission, she told them that Odum was the one who asked her to find the wedding ring. He asked Ruth if she had any idea where it might be.  Ruth found the ring in the first place she looked - "the little tea cup that is from her grandmother".  

The National Archives pored through their records, and could find no record of any ring being turned over to the FBI. Yet, in an interview, Marina told journalist Jessamyn West that the federal government had possession of the wedding ring and returned it to her years later - even in the face of the laws mandating that the Archives retain all evidence of the case. Ruth's finding of the wedding ring appears to have been choreographed by Odum.  Nonetheless, it's a great story that is frequently touted as proof of Oswald's guilt.

Ruth and Michael regularly spoke with Odum.  Marina did not.

Ruth and Michael regularly spoke with Odum. Marina did not. She told Odum she would not talk to the FBI on 11/23/63 - this brave talk got her nothing but the aforementioned relentless scrutiny of agents Heitman and Bogaslov. There is a LIfe photo documenting this incident showing Marina talking with Odum while holding the newborn Rachel.

The 23rd was also the day that Ruth gave Oswald's draft letter to the Soviet consulate to Jim Hosty after holding it back from the Dallas police on the day of the assassination. To me, this is the clearest example that the Paines knew that they were enmeshed in a relationship with the federal government due to the nature of their relationship with the Oswald family. Any other person other than Ruth Paine would have provided the Oswald draft letter to the Dallas police right on the spot.

On the 24th, Odum interviewed Ruth and obtained her copy of the Oswald draft letter. Hosty said that Odum was sent by their boss to verify Hosty's story and to make sure Hosty hadn't mistreated Ruth or Marina in his interviews with them before the assassination. Odum signed an affidavit saying he did not recall this story.   

Odum went on to interview Ruth at least ten times during the next year, as confirmed by this list.  I see no evidence that Odum ever spoke to her again until 1975.

Dallas Police evidence list including Minox camera

Odum did, however, get caught up in at least two other controversies. The Dallas police found a Minox camera at Ruth Paine's home, as shown on this list of Oswald's possessions and Gus Rose's personal recollection. It's a classic spy camera. When Wally Heitman obtained control of the chain of custody list, he changed the DPD listing of "a Minox camera" to a "Minox light meter".

When the ownership of the Minox became a major issue, the Oswalds' host Michael Paine came forward to Bard Odum and said the Minox found in Ruth's home was his camera. By definition, a #27259 camera is a Minox II, as that model goes up to #31500. John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee, p. 910. Nonetheless, Paine's camera was mistakenly logged in by Odum into the FBI records as a Minox III. 

Paine's camera was returned to him. A real Minox III is sitting in the Archives today. It is believed to be Oswald's Minox. It is currently jammed and thus the serial number remains unknown.   (Researcher Carol Hewitt has written a fine summary of this imbroglio.)

Odum is also cited in a 1964 memo summarizing a series of interviews with witnesses regarding firearms evidence. It states that witnesses O. P. Wright and Daniel Tomlinson believed that the infamous "magic bullet" CE 399 - referred to by the FBI as C1 - "appeared to be" the same bullet that they had seen on November 22. This pristine bullet was supposedly found near a stretcher in Parkland Hospital - but O.P. Wright, a former Dallas cop, maintained that the magic bullet had a pointed tip like a 30-30, and not a rounded tip like CE-399 that is now in the National Archives.  

Many years later, researchers Tink Thompson and Gary Aguilar sought out Odum and interviewed him about this contradictory evidence in 2002.

Odum's response was to label the 1964 memo as mistaken - that he had never had possession of the magic bullet.  Odum said that if he had conducted such interviews with Wright and Tomlinson as indicated by this memo, the established procedure was for him to write up his own memo recounting these interviews. No such memo has been found in the Archives, despite numerous searches.  

A number of evidentiary problems have been Identified. The question has to be asked. Did Bardwell Odum simply fabricate this evidence?

[Ron Bulman]

3 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

Leslie Sharp provided me with invaluable assistance as I put together this section from The Twelve Who Built the Oswald Legend: Epilogue - https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Oswald_Legend_12.html

FBI agent Bardwell Odum kept an eye on the Paines

FBI officer Wally Heitman (the key Spanish-speaker in the Dallas office) had a close colleague - Bardwell Odum. Odum was a native Texan, whose brother Arthur was vice consul at the Venezuelan consulate at Maracaibo during 1963. While Heitman specialized in working with the Russians and the Cubans as a valued CIA liaison for the Dallas office, Odum was a senior criminal specialist and a favorite of Dallas FBI chief Gordon Shanklin.  

Heitman was the man who met Eldon Rudd on the tarmac the night of the assassination. Rudd was delivering documents provided to him by CIA Mexico City chief Win Scott - a photo of the Mystery Man that Scott allegedly believed was Oswald, and wiretap transcripts allegedly of Oswald. A memo indicates that audiotapes from Mexico City also made it to Dallas.  

Within less than 24 hours, Odum showed Marguerite Oswald the "Mystery Man photo" described in Part 10 on November 23 - which Marguerite later claimed was a photo of Jack Ruby - shown to her one day before Ruby killed Oswald. Marguerite's mistake in confusing the Mystery Man for Ruby has distracted researchers from realizing that Odum was a major player - he was entrusted with these very important CIA documents very early on.

Like Heitman, Odum was a veteran in the world of intelligence. As discussed in Part 12, Michael Paine said he knew him as "Bob Odum" before the assassination, while the Irving barber Cliff Shasteen regularly gave haircuts to both Oswald and Odum before the assassination. Odum spent many years as a contact to Ruth Paine after the assassination. I believe Odum was the FBI man who "handled" the Paines both before and after the assassination - whether they knew it or not.

Oswald told Ruth that he left a note for "the agents" at the FBI office. Ruth told the Warren Commission that she believed it until she learned after the assassination that it was "another lie" by Oswald.

In 1975, when the Oswald note to Hosty was finally revealed to the public, most of the agents at the office admitted they knew the story. But not Odum.

Bardwell Odum with Marina Oswald on 11/23/63.

Odum claimed to Ruth that he had never known about the Oswald visit to the Dallas FBI office - even though just about everyone else did! When Ruth found out that Oswald had actually delivered the note to Hosty, she blurted out Odum's name to the media as her source.

She then called Odum and apologized, saying that "it's all my fault". Ruth referred to Odum as "her primary contact".

The relationship between Hosty and Odum is also fascinating. To hear Hosty tell the story in his book Assignment: Oswald, Odum knew all about how Hosty was ordered to destroy the note Oswald brought to the FBI office as soon as Hosty's boss Shanklin heard that Oswald was dead. Odum denies every word of Hosty's account - stating that if any FBI agent was involved in destroying evidence, he "would not forget it".

Odum had a lot to forget about. He was busy on November 22 and afterwards. Martha Moyer and Raymond F. Gallagher wrote articles that schooled me over the years about Mr. Odum's busy schedule.  Researcher Leslie Sharp knew I was hot on Odum's trail, and she reminded me just how busy he was from the very first moments after JFK was shot.

We first see Odum driving J. C. Day from the book depository to put the alleged assassination rifle into a locked evidence box in Day's fourth floor office at the police department - Odum called in over the FBI radio channel that has now disappeared into the ether without a trace. We then see Odum stationing himself as a guard in the lobby of the Texas Theatre, watching Oswald being frog-marched away. Curiously, Odum was allegedly standing inside the theater near FBI counterintelligence officer Robert Barrett and Dallas Captain Pinky Westbrook. Like Odum, Barrett has also told his share of whoppers. Barrett told a variety of stories about whether or not he was looking for bullets with Detective Buddy Walthers in Dealey Plaza in the moments after the assassination.

Similarly, when Westbrook was videotaped holding a wallet similar to Oswald's at the Tippit death scene, Barrett claimed that Westbrook told him that the wallet had both Oswald and Hidell's ID in it - on other occasions, Barrett falsely told the news media that a card with "O. H. Lee" on it was also found in the wallet. The lies of Odum and Barrett were designed to confuse everyone about the key events surrounding the assassination.

By 1:51 pm, the Dallas radio transcript shows that Jerry Hill and his colleagues are en route to headquarters with Oswald. Hill was with Luke Mooney on the sixth floor when they claimed to find the Mannlicher-Carcano hulls that matched the rifle that Odum escorted to the evidence room. Odum is busy.

Then Odum shows up at the searches of Ruth Paine's home. Ruth felt that Marina "must have known that Lee went to Mexico", based on the materials from Mexico that she and Odum allegedly found while going through Marina's dresser drawers. He's busy.

A ring of contradictions

Oswald has a ring on his left hand.

On November 22, a ring can be seen on Oswald's left hand, which later disappears. It might be his wedding ring, but even if it is his Marine ring - and someone should be able to figure this out - it still doesn't really matter. Like much of the evidence, the chain of custody of these two rings is hotly contested.

Researcher Timothy Cweik did a great job studying this situation - he pointed out that Marina made two contradictory statements. On 12/3/63 she said that she saw Oswald's wedding ring left behind when she woke up that morning, even though it was on his hand the previous evening. But she didn't see the ring on her dresser that morning - she only saw it after the police arrived that afternoon.  

Marina made two other contradictory statements. She said that she called Ruth Paine and told her about finding the ring on her dresser - important, because that was right about the time that Marina was taken into protective custody by the Secret Service. But when Ruth testified to the Warren Commission, she told them that Odum was the one who asked her to find the wedding ring. He asked Ruth if she had any idea where it might be.  Ruth found the ring in the first place she looked - "the little tea cup that is from her grandmother".  

The National Archives pored through their records, and could find no record of any ring being turned over to the FBI. Yet, in an interview, Marina told journalist Jessamyn West that the federal government had possession of the wedding ring and returned it to her years later - even in the face of the laws mandating that the Archives retain all evidence of the case. Ruth's finding of the wedding ring appears to have been choreographed by Odum.  Nonetheless, it's a great story that is frequently touted as proof of Oswald's guilt.

Ruth and Michael regularly spoke with Odum.  Marina did not.

Ruth and Michael regularly spoke with Odum. Marina did not. She told Odum she would not talk to the FBI on 11/23/63 - this brave talk got her nothing but the aforementioned relentless scrutiny of agents Heitman and Bogaslov. There is a LIfe photo documenting this incident showing Marina talking with Odum while holding the newborn Rachel.

The 23rd was also the day that Ruth gave Oswald's draft letter to the Soviet consulate to Jim Hosty after holding it back from the Dallas police on the day of the assassination. To me, this is the clearest example that the Paines knew that they were enmeshed in a relationship with the federal government due to the nature of their relationship with the Oswald family. Any other person other than Ruth Paine would have provided the Oswald draft letter to the Dallas police right on the spot.

On the 24th, Odum interviewed Ruth and obtained her copy of the Oswald draft letter. Hosty said that Odum was sent by their boss to verify Hosty's story and to make sure Hosty hadn't mistreated Ruth or Marina in his interviews with them before the assassination. Odum signed an affidavit saying he did not recall this story.   

Odum went on to interview Ruth at least ten times during the next year, as confirmed by this list.  I see no evidence that Odum ever spoke to her again until 1975.

Dallas Police evidence list including Minox camera

Odum did, however, get caught up in at least two other controversies. The Dallas police found a Minox camera at Ruth Paine's home, as shown on this list of Oswald's possessions and Gus Rose's personal recollection. It's a classic spy camera. When Wally Heitman obtained control of the chain of custody list, he changed the DPD listing of "a Minox camera" to a "Minox light meter".

When the ownership of the Minox became a major issue, the Oswalds' host Michael Paine came forward to Bard Odum and said the Minox found in Ruth's home was his camera. By definition, a #27259 camera is a Minox II, as that model goes up to #31500. John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee, p. 910. Nonetheless, Paine's camera was mistakenly logged in by Odum into the FBI records as a Minox III. 

Paine's camera was returned to him. A real Minox III is sitting in the Archives today. It is believed to be Oswald's Minox. It is currently jammed and thus the serial number remains unknown.   (Researcher Carol Hewitt has written a fine summary of this imbroglio.)

Odum is also cited in a 1964 memo summarizing a series of interviews with witnesses regarding firearms evidence. It states that witnesses O. P. Wright and Daniel Tomlinson believed that the infamous "magic bullet" CE 399 - referred to by the FBI as C1 - "appeared to be" the same bullet that they had seen on November 22. This pristine bullet was supposedly found near a stretcher in Parkland Hospital - but O.P. Wright, a former Dallas cop, maintained that the magic bullet had a pointed tip like a 30-30, and not a rounded tip like CE-399 that is now in the National Archives.  

Many years later, researchers Tink Thompson and Gary Aguilar sought out Odum and interviewed him about this contradictory evidence in 2002.

Odum's response was to label the 1964 memo as mistaken - that he had never had possession of the magic bullet.  Odum said that if he had conducted such interviews with Wright and Tomlinson as indicated by this memo, the established procedure was for him to write up his own memo recounting these interviews. No such memo has been found in the Archives, despite numerous searches.  

A number of evidentiary problems have been Identified. The question has to be asked. Did Bardwell Odum simply fabricate this evidence?

Excellent.  Thank you for your insight, Counselor, several new details for me.  I urge others here to read it. 

I first encountered Lesie at JFKFACTS many years ago.  I respected her posts there.  She responded kindly to some of mine.  It's nice to see her work since taken seriously and complimented.