Gun Shot Residue (GSR) Tests?

[Benjamin Cole]

Of interest to the JFKA community has always been the "negative" GSR test on LHO's cheek, taken late 11/22/63.

One problem was that the GSR test was administered on LHO was done past the length of time such tests were considered informative. 

Then--

GSR tests results are considered reliable, and should be admitted into evidence. Gunshot residue can be removed by actions such as washing hands, wiping clothing, or brushing it off, so the absence of residue does not prove that the person did not recently fire a gun.

https://ncpro.sog.unc.edu/manual/611-1#:~:text=GSR tests results are considered,not recently fire a gun.

So, if LHO wiped his face with cloth, or rinsed his face off in a bathroom at his rooming house or the Texas Theater....

Then from my neighbors in the Philippines--

"National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic chemist Leonora Vallado testified that excessive perspiration or washing of hands with the use of warm water or vinegar may remove gunpowder nitrates on the skin."

https://crimephilippines.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/gunshot-residue-analysis/

LHO was running around....

IMHO, the GSR test on LHO's cheek is not informative. 

In addition, LHO, if he was a CIA asset, may have known to simply cover his cheek with paper or saran wrap while firing. 

[Gerry Down]

How come these tests aren't carried out any more as standard in homicide investigations? Never heard of plaster casts being taken in modern investigations.

[David Von Pein]

Related info concerning the subject of Paraffin Tests....

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Here's the complete Hoover letter in CD787:

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=11185&relPageId=2

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From Page 165 of Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History"....

"To confirm that firing a rifle will not leave nitrate residue on the firer's cheeks, the FBI had one of their agents, Charles L. Killion, fire three rounds in Oswald's Carcano rifle. The result of the paraffin test conducted thereafter was negative for his cheeks and hands (3 H 494, WCT Cortlandt Cunningham;
WR, pp.561–562)."

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The Warren Commission Report, Pages 561-562....

"In a third experiment, performed after the assassination, an agent of the FBI, using the C2766 rifle, fired three rounds of Western 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition in rapid succession. A paraffin test was then performed on both of his hands and his right cheek. Both of his hands and his cheek tested negative."

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Also see:

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2015/06/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-952.html

 

[Benjamin Cole]

Here is some more:

"It is also important to note that the absence of GSR does not prove that a person did not fire a gun, since the residual chemicals can be removed by wiping, hand-washing, wind, rain, etc. See State v. Lambert, 341 N.C. 36 (1995) (“negative gunshot residue test could be explained by defendant's wringing of her hands and the use of her hands to wipe tears from her face”)."

https://ncpro.sog.unc.edu/manual/611-1

---30---

I think those of us in the CT side (includes me) have to release this contention, that the negative cheek test proves anything.

It should also be clear, LHO could have fired a rifle and gun that day in service of an intel agency, or perhaps was a flat-out patsy. 

 

 

[Bill Fite]

7 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

I think those of us in the CT side (includes me) have to release this contention, that the negative cheek test proves anything.

It's not just the paraffin test but the Neutron Activation Analysis tests performed on the Oswald paraffin and the paraffin tests on 7 FBI agents who test fired an MC rifle (the MC rifle).

The NAA would be much more sensitive than paraffin tests. 

LHO's result was negative.  All 7 FBI agents positive.

A summary can be found here - http://www.22november1963.org.uk/jfk-assassination-neutron-activation-analysis.

Pat Speer posted a really good explanation of this last week in this thread - 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

8 hours ago, Bill Fite said:

It's not just the paraffin test but the Neutron Activation Analysis tests performed on the Oswald paraffin and the paraffin tests on 7 FBI agents who test fired an MC rifle (the MC rifle).

The NAA would be much more sensitive than paraffin tests. 

LHO's result was negative.  All 7 FBI agents positive.

A summary can be found here - http://www.22november1963.org.uk/jfk-assassination-neutron-activation-analysis.

Pat Speer posted a really good explanation of this last week in this thread - 

 

 

Bill Fite---

Thanks for your comment. 

You make a good point. Th literature seems to concur the NAA tests are sensitive. 

Unfortunately, the chain of evidence on the LHO paraffin mask...is non-existent. An ordinary  DPD officer took the paraffin mask home for several days or weeks, before the purported mask was sent on to Guinn, who ran the NAA tests. I think I remember something about the DPD officer washing the mask. Ask Pat Speer.

In other event, there is no assurance the mask tested by Guinn is, or is not, the true LHO mask. 

On top of that, LHO may have simply covered his cheek with paper or saran wrap while firing. 

If we assume LHO was a CIA asset, and very interested in and trained in spycraft...he may have used techniques to foil detection. 

Which leads to a stray thought....suppose you were to shoot someone with a .38 revolver, and then throw onto the ground .38 "auto" shells before running off?  Then if you were arrested later, the "auto" shells would appear to be evidence you were not the shooter. 

Just wondering if someone shot Tippit with a revolver and tossed "auto" shells on the ground nearby... 

Endless inquiries...that is the JFKA....

Thanks for your collegial commentary. 

Edited March 28 by Benjamin Cole

[Denny Zartman]

15 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

On top of that, LHO may have simply covered his cheek with paper or saran wrap while firing. 

You're going to have to produce some evidence for that. You can't just make it up out of thin air. Why do you do that?

[Denny Zartman]

16 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

If we assume LHO was a CIA asset, and very interested in and trained in spycraft...he may have used techniques to foil detection. 

Like evading apprehension by sitting motionless in a public place?

[Benjamin Cole]

57 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

Like evading apprehension by sitting motionless in a public place?

DZ---

Thanks for your comment. 

I am unsure of the meaning of your comment. 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, Denny Zartman said:

You're going to have to produce some evidence for that. You can't just make it up out of thin air. Why do you do that?

DZ--

Thanks for your comment.

I noted, in my review of GSR literature, that gloves and face masks, used to during firing, are known to prevent traces of GSR on the skin.  

If LHO knew that gloves and masks can foil GDR tests---and as an CIA asset in operations, it is reasonable to assume he did---he might have taken steps to prevent GSR traces falling upon his skin. 

Some have asked, how then did GSR end up on LHO's hands?

1. He may have fired a revolver during the Tippit episode. He may have only handled his revolver, which had GSR on it from previous firings.  

2. He may have false positives on his hands after exposure to police cars and offices, where researchers have found GSR contaminants. 

3. He may have had contaminants on the outside of his hands, from his work, and failed to wash the outside of his hands after the JFKA. 

As I say, for many reasons, IMHO the LHO's cheek and hands GSR tests are too dicey to convict or exonerate LHO. 

BTW, this is from Pat Speer:

"Another memo on this transfer notes further that (the LHO) paraffin casts were normally thrown out by the Dallas Police Department after testing, and that Louie Anderson, who'd analyzed the casts for the DPD, had washed them and taken them home, apparently as a souvenir."

Egads! Talk about chain of evidence and tampering with evidence!  

Do you imagine if Louie Anderson had 'washed" the masks, he might have removed GSR from the masks before the neutron testing? 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Bill Fite---

Thanks for your comment. 

You make a good point. Th literature seems to concur the NAA tests are sensitive. 

Unfortunately, the chain of evidence on the LHO paraffin mask...is non-existent. An ordinary  DPD officer took the paraffin mask home for several days or weeks, before the purported mask was sent on to Guinn, who ran the NAA tests. I think I remember something about the DPD officer washing the mask. Ask Pat Speer.

In other event, there is no assurance the mask tested by Guinn is, or is not, the true LHO mask. 

On top of that, LHO may have simply covered his cheek with paper or saran wrap while firing. 

If we assume LHO was a CIA asset, and very interested in and trained in spycraft...he may have used techniques to foil detection. 

Which leads to a stray thought....suppose you were to shoot someone with a .38 revolver, and then throw onto the ground .38 "auto" shells before running off?  Then if you were arrested later, the "auto" shells would appear to be evidence you were not the shooter. 

Just wondering if someone shot Tippit with a revolver and tossed "auto" shells on the ground nearby... 

Endless inquiries...that is the JFKA....

Thanks for your collegial commentary. 

BTW, from Pat Speer's formidable website:

"Another memo on this transfer notes further that (LHO's) paraffin casts were normally thrown out by the Dallas Police Department after testing, and that Louie Anderson, who'd analyzed the casts for the DPD, had washed them and taken them home, apparently as a souvenir."

https://www.patspeer.com/chapter4fcastsofcontention

[Pat Speer]

On 3/27/2024 at 6:12 PM, Gerry Down said:

How come these tests aren't carried out any more as standard in homicide investigations? Never heard of plaster casts being taken in modern investigations.

This is all discussed in chapter 4f on my website. They stopped performing the nitrate test performed by the DPD within a few years of the shooting. But the use of NAA to uncover gsr on wax casts is still presumed to be solid science. The problem was that it was very expensive. And was replaced by a less expensive test, that is still performed today. But the results provided Weisberg, and discussed in chapter 4f, are still valid. 

[Pat Speer]

1 hour ago, Benjamin Cole said:

BTW, from Pat Speer's formidable website:

"Another memo on this transfer notes further that (LHO's) paraffin casts were normally thrown out by the Dallas Police Department after testing, and that Louie Anderson, who'd analyzed the casts for the DPD, had washed them and taken them home, apparently as a souvenir."

https://www.patspeer.com/chapter4fcastsofcontention

Keep reading. The controls were washed as well. 

[Benjamin Cole]

2 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

Keep reading. The controls were washed as well. 

That's interesting. Still, a bit loosey-goosey for my comfort. 

But...the chain of evidence problem too...the time delay to test on cheek...LHO's knowledge of spycraft and possible methods to foil tests...

Hey, I am a CT'er. Maybe LHO did not fire a weapon that day, or maybe only a handgun. Maybe neither. 

My take is that if there was a CIA-linked JFKA that day...and we had CIA-asset LHO in the TSBD, from which shots were fired...but LHO was totally uninvolved? And, almost immediately, LHO figures out he is the patsy, and takes a taxi home, arms himself....

I can't prove my version of the JFKA...but certainly is plausible LHO was involved in some way in the JFKA, perhaps unwittingly. 

So it goes....

 

 

[Bill Fite]

6 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

https://www.patspeer.com/chapter4fcastsofcontention

@Pat Speer  Thank you for all the effort you put into this and the clear explanation of all the results of the GSR / NAA tests and experimental setup.

I've been looking for more details on the NAA tests for quite a while.

Very well done and also well-written.