The esteemed JFK researcher John Armstrong sent me this article which clarifies his position on Oswald's movements. John has reached the conclusion that it was Captain Westbrook and Officer Croy who drove Oswald to the theater, rather than Tippit. Previously, John assumed it was Tippit who drove Oswald.
But, in this business, a change of mind is not a flaw, a weakness, or anything to apologize for. We are trying to get through a maze, and just as a smart mouse is going to enter some blind allies and have to backtrack and correct himself, it's the same for us.
I agree with John completely that Oswald (that is, HARVEY) had to have ridden to the theater. There is no way he could have walked there in the time that it took him to get there. And think about it from the standpoint of the plotters. They knew they were framing him for the murder of Tippit. So, if he was walking a mile IN BROAD DAYLIGHT while it was going on, he could have interacted with someone on the street; he could have seen something that would confirm that he was there and not at 10th and Patton, or someone could have seen him and remembered him. It was too risky for them. They had to drive him there.
John figures that Oswald left his boarding house a little after 1:00 and we all know from Jim Douglass that Butch Burroughs placed Oswald in the theater at 1:07. That means that Oswald must have been driven there.
Then, I like to add that it sticks out like a sore thumb that they have told us nothing of what Oswald said about his movement from his room to the theater. Surely, they asked him, right? And surely he told them, right? The fact that they have withheld this information indicates that whatever he told them must have been extremely exonerating.
Then, we know that Earlene Roberts reported a police car with two officers, and the horn being honked. So, what John suggests is very plausible. I don't say it is as certain as Oswald in the doorway because that is as certain as Christ on the Cross. But, it is very, very plausible.
THE MURDER OF J.D. TIPPIT
By John Armstrong
It may seem hard to imagine or understand why two Dallas Police Officers would plan to murder a fellow uniformed Dallas policeman in broad daylight in front of numerous eyewitnesses but, as we shall see, it was simply the final act in the long drama in which LEE Oswald framed HARVEY Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy. Tippit had to be eliminated, because he knew both LEE Oswald and HARVEY Oswald. As LEE Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippit, circa 1:06 PM near 10th & Patton in Oak Cliff, TX, HARVEY Oswald was six blocks west and sitting in the lower section of the Texas Theater. He was observed moving from seat to seat and apparently looking for his contact. After killing Tippit, LEE Oswald left the scene and began walking south on Patton St., turned right on Jefferson Blvd. and continued walking toward the Texas Theater. He likely met up with Capt. Westbrook, driving police car #207, near the Abundant Life Church across the alley from the Texaco station. Lee Oswald was likely driven to the theater by Westbrook in order to avoid Oswald possibly being arrested by roaming Dallas police while walking to the theater.
At first it may seem bizzare to think that LEE Oswald, after murdering Tippit, would be driven in a police car to the theater. However, after careful consideration it appears that driving LEE to the theater may have been the only practical solution. Minutes after Tippit was killed the police were hunting for the suspect, who was last seen walking west on Jefferson Blvd. If LEE Oswald had been stopped and arrested by police anywhere between 10th and Patton and the theater, the whole carefully planned operation to blame HARVEY Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy and Officer Tippit would have been compromised. HARVEY Oswald, sitting quietly in the theater as Officer Tippit was murdered, could not be blamed for killing Tippit nor blamed for killing President Kennedy. Therefore, it was absolutely imperative that LEE Oswald arrive quickly and safely at the Texas Theater. Who could take LEE Oswald to the theater without fear of being arrested by the police? Captain Westbrook, who I believe drove from the Abundant Life Church, behind the Texaco station, through the alleyway (between Jefferson Blvd. and 10th St.), and dropped off LEE Oswald in the alley behind the Texas Theater. LEE walked thru the narrow walkway from the alley to Jefferson Blvd, quietly bought a theater ticket from Julia Postal, and hurried up the stairs to the balcony while Harvey Oswald was sitting in the lower section.
Not a single person saw LEE Oswald, wearing a white jacket, a white t-shirt, and dark pants walking to or entering the Texas Theater.
NOTE: Johnny Brewer, an employee of Hardy's Shoe Store on Jefferson Blvd, claimed to have seen Oswald (HARVEY) in the vestibule of his store wearing a long sleeve dark brown shirt, and also claimed this man snuck into the Texas Theater (circa 1:30 PM). But Oswald (HARVEY) arrived at the Texas Theater circa 1:06-07 PM, long before Brewer claimed to have seen him in his shoe store circa 1:30 PM). And the man who shot Tippit was wearing a white t-shirt (not a long sleeve dark brown shirt) and was driven to the Texas Theater. Brewer could not possibly have seen either HARVEY Oswald or LEE Oswald in the vestibule of his store.
As Westbrook was driving LEE Oswald to the theater I believe that LEE removed his jacket and then left his jacket, wallet, and .38 revolver with Westbrook. In less than an hour two of these items (the wallet and jacket) would be used by Westbrook to identify the suspect as HARVEY Oswald, the man who shot and killed Tippit. Within 30 minutes Westbrook planted and then "found" the jacket given to him by LEE Oswald in the parking lot behind the Texaco station. A few minutes later Westbrook was at 10th & Patton, showing fellow police officers the wallet given to him by LEE Oswald which contained identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and A. Hidell. The Hidell identification was critical, because it linked HARVEY Oswald to the Manlicher carcano rifle found on the 6th floor of the Book Depository, which provided a direct link to the assassination of President Kennedy. A half hour later, at police headquarters, I believe that Westbrook switched LEE Oswald's .38 revolver (the murder weapon) with the .38 revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald when he was arrested at the Texas Theater. This weapon was brought directly to the personnel office (Westbrook's office) by officer Gerry Hill and it remained in Westbrook's office for nearly an hour. Capt. Westbrook was instrumental in framing HARVEY Oswald as the man who murdered Officer Tippit.
Around 1:13 PM LEE Oswald arrived in the alley behind the Texas Theater, walked thru a narrow passageway to Jefferson Blvd. and, wanting to avoid any and all attention, purchased a theater ticket from Julia Postal. He then quietly entered the theater and walked up to the balcony in the 2nd level, where he could observe HARVEY in the lower section. LEE Oswald was to remain in the theater until the police arrived and either shot or arrested HARVEY Oswald. If HARVEY did leave the theater, LEE was probably instructed to follow HARVEY outside and keep him under surveillance. At this time, circa 1:13 PM, it is important to remember that both LEE (white t-shirt) and HARVEY (long sleeve dark brown shirt) had both purchased theater tickets and were sitting quietly in the theater--and there was no reason for anyone to be alarmed and call the police !! Twenty minutes later Johnny Brewer claimed to have seen a very nervous "Lee (HARVEY) Oswald," wearing a dark brown shirt, duck into the vestibule of his shoe store as police cars drove past. Brewer then claimed to have seen Oswald sneak into the theater. But Brewer did not see either LEE nor HARVEY sneak into the theater, because both men were already in the theater. Tommy Rowe, who worked with Brewer at the shoe store, was interviewed by Penn Jones of the Midlothian Mirror. Rowe said that he told Johnny Brewer that he saw a man, wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, duck into the entrance of the shoe store and then sneak into the theater. What is going on ??
I believe that Brewer, assuming that Tommy Rowe was telling the truth, hurried to the theater and asked Julia Postal (cashier) if she had sold a ticket to a man who had hurried or snuck into the theater. Brewer went inside the theater and told theater manager Butch Burroughs about the suspicious man. Burroughs said that he had not seen this "suspicious" man, and assumed the man went directly to the balcony. As Brewer Burroughs were looking for the suspicious man in the darkened theater, Capt. Westbrook was at 10th & Patton showing fellow police officers the wallet given to him by LEE Oswald that contained identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and Alex Hidell.
Brewer coaxed Julia Postal into calling the police, but Postal was not the only person to call the police. Dallas Assistant District Attorney Jim Bowie, when interviewed by researcher Leo Sauvage, said "there were over a half-dozen anonymous phone calls made to the Dallas Police advising that a suspicious man had gone into the Texas Theater." All of these calls to police headquarters were made for the express purpose of cajoling and luring the police to the Texas Theater in search of a "suspicious man," who may have murdered Officer Tippit. I believe that one of these phone calls was made by Tommy Rowe. Another one of those calls could have been made by Jack Ruby, who was a very close friend of Tommy Rowe. After a "half-dozen" anonymous phone calls, the police dispatcher announced that a suspect had entered the Texas Theater and was hiding in the balcony.
Soon, most of the police officers left the scene of the Tippit murder and within minutes arrived at the theater. Police were looking for a suspect wearing a white jacket, a white t-shirt and dark pants (LEE Oswald). But HARVEY Oswald, sitting in the lower section since 1:06-1:07 PM, was wearing a long sleeve dark brown shirt. Inside the darkened theater it was Tommy Rowe (not Johnny Brewer), who told police the man in the long sleeve brown shirt was their suspect. But how would Tommy Rowe know the color and style of HARVEY Oswald's shirt when he had never seen this man enter the theater? Perhaps from Rowe's good friend, Jack Ruby.
From the balcony LEE was insulated a bit as HARVEY was arrested. But after hearing the commotion below LEE Oswald began to leave the balcony area and walk down the stairway. As Deputy Sheriff Bill Courson was running up the stairs he passed by a young man and later said "he was reasonably satisfied in his own mind the man he saw was Lee Harvey Oswald." Seconds later LEE Oswald was stopped by police Lt. Cunningham and Detective J.B. Toney, who began to question him, perhaps because his clothing matched the most recent police description of the suspect wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants. As Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers rushed up the stairs, he saw these officers as they were questioning the young man.
Capt. Westbrook was in charge of personnel for the Dallas police, but had nothing to do with Capt. Will Fritz's homicide and robbery division. Yet following the shooting of President Kennedy Westbrook appeared at the Texas School Book Depository, the Texaco Parking lot, 10th & Patton, the Texas Theater, and was standing close to HARVEY Oswald when he was arrested. Westbrook was the highest ranking police officer at all of these locations. Seconds after HARVEY Oswald was arrested in the lower section Capt. Westbrook, who surely knew that LEE Oswald was upstairs in the balcony, told police officers "cover his face [HARVEY Oswald's face] and get him out of here." HARVEY Oswald was taken out the front of the theater and placed in the back seat of Capt. Westbrook's unmarked police car. A few minutes later LEE Oswald was arrested in the balcony and brought downstairs. Theater concessionaire Butch Burroughs saw a man who "looked almost like Oswald, like he was his brother or something" taken out the back of the theater in handcuffs "three or four minutes" later. Bernard Haire, the owner of Bernie's Hobby House, two doors east of the theater, saw police take this man out the back of the theater and place him in a police car. Mr. Haire thought he had witnessed the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald in the alley behind the Texas Theater. But the man seen by Mr. Haire was LEE Oswald, and not HARVEY Oswald, who had been taken out the front of the theater and driven directly to police headquarters. The identity of the police officer(s) who escorted LEE Oswald out the rear of the theater and placed him in the police car in the alley remain unknown. But LEE Oswald was not driven to police headquarters. He was released, but certainly not by a patrolman. It was likely a high ranking Dallas police officer, most likely Capt. Westbrook, who ordered LEE Oswald's release. Westbrook probably told his officers that the man who shot and killed Tippit was arrested and taken out the front of the theater. Westbrook said the young man taken out the back of the theater was arrested by mistake, and was to be released immediately. Westbrook likely told his officers there were to be no police reports nor discussion of a mistaken arrest, in order to avoid criticism of the Dallas Police Department. The arrest of HARVEY Oswald, and framing him as the "patsy," for the assassination of President Kennedy and the murder of Officer Tippit was now complete. Following are the details....
The Pre-arranged murder of Officer J.D. Tippit
A half hour after the President of the United States was murdered, Dallas Police Capt. W.R. Westbrook, reserve Sgt. Kenneth Croy, Officer J.D. Tippit, and LEE Oswald met at the entrance to a driveway near 10th and Patton in Oak Cliff, across the Trinity River from downtown Dallas. The convergence of these four people at this precise location a few minutes after 1:00 PM could not possibly be accidental.
As the evidence that follows will show, the murder of Dallas Police officer J.D. Tippit was pre-arranged and involved LEE Oswald and at least one high-ranking Dallas Police officer. Tippit was shot and killed at 10th & Patton by LEE Oswald, who then met up with Capt. Westbrook and was drive six blocks to the Texas Theater and hid in the balcony. The white Eisenhower type jacket, worn by LEE Oswald when he shot Tippit, was found by Capt. Westbrook in a nearby parking lot. A wallet that contained identification for both Lee Harvey Oswald and Alek Hidell suddenly appeared in the hands of Capt. Westbrook and was shown to fellow officers at the scene of the murder. This wallet disappeared 10 minutes later and was never seen again.
DALLAS POLICE CAPTAIN W.R. WESTBROOK
Captain William Ralph Westbrook was in charge of personnel at Dallas Police headquarters. He had his own office, worked at a desk, and dressed in plain clothes. Westbrook's work, on a day to day basis, was more like a civilian than a police officer.
Westbrook told the Warren Commission, "At the present time I am personnel officer. We conduct all background investigations of applicants, both civilian and police, and then we make--we investigate all personnel complaints--not all of them, but the major ones."
On November 22, around 12:31 PM, one of the DPD dispatchers, Mrs. Kinney, came into Westbrook's office and told him shots had been fired at President Kennedy. Westbrook sent officers from his personnel office, Sergeants Stringer and Carver, and possibly Joe Fields and H.L. McGee, to the Texas School Book Depository. But how did Westbrook know to send his officers DIRECTLY to the Texas School Book Depository building, when the earliest police dispatches reported gunshots from the grassy knoll area? Westbrook told the WC that he walked down the hall spreading the word and telling the other people that they needed some men down there (at the Book Depository) and that almost everybody left. Westbrook was now alone, and Capt. Westbrook's whereabouts for the next 40-50 minutes are critical to understanding his involvement with apprehending HARVEY Oswald and his involvement in the murder of J.D. Tippit.
Westbrook said that he "sat around" a while and then began walking, in civilian clothes, one mile to the Texas Depository Building--a 22 minute walk. Westbrook said there wasn't a police car available to drive him, yet Capt. Westbrook could easily have asked the dispatcher to call a patrol car. Westbrook said that while walking to the Book Depository he stopped along the way to listen to transistor radio reports. Westbrook told the WC, "After WE reached the building [notice that Westbrook said WE, PLURAL, yet told the WC he walked by himself to the Book Depository], I contacted my sergeant, Sgt. Stringer, and he was standing in front and so then I went into the building to help start the search. Westbrook said he went into the building to "START THE SEARCH" BUT POLICE HAD ALREADY BEEN SEARCHING THE BOOK DEPOSITORY FOR AT LEAST A HALF HOUR. Westbrook then said, "I was on the first floor and I had walked down an aisle and opened a door onto an outside loading dock. And when I came out onto this dock, one of the men hollered and said there had been an officer killed in Oak Cliff."
WESTBROOK'S WARREN COMMISSION TESTIMONY ASIDE, HIS WHEREABOUTS FROM THE TIME HE WAS LAST SEEN AT THE POLICE STATION (CIRCA 12:35 PM) TO HIS ARRIVAL AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY (AROUND 1:16 PM) ARE UNKNOWN. HIS STORY OF WALKING ALONE TO THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, AFTER THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS SHOT, IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE, AND THERE IS NO PROOF THAT WESTBROOK WAS EVER IN THE BOOK DEPOSITORY. BUT WESTBROOK'S STORY, WHICH I BELIEVE IS A TOTAL LIE, GAVE HIM AN ALIBI TO ACCOUNT FOR 40-50 MINUTES OF HIS TIME. CAPTAIN WESTBROOK WOULD LIKE US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CASUALLY WALKED TO THE SCENE OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S MURDER, BUT THEN HURRIEDLY DROVE TO THE SCENE OF OFFICER TIPPIT'S MURDER. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ESSAY IS TO DETERMINE CAPT. WESTBROOK'S LIKELY WHEREABOUTS AND HIS ACTIVITIES FROM 12:35 THRU 1:16 PM ON THE AFTERNOON OF NOVEMBER 22, 1963.
RESERVE OFFICER SGT. KENNETH CROY
I believe Dallas Police reserve officer Sgt. Kenneth Croy was with Westbrook during those missing 40-50 minutes. Croy was 26 years old, separated from his wife, and living with his parents on November 22. Croy told the Warren Commission that when President Kennedy was shot he was sitting in his car at City Hall--the same location as Capt. Westbrook. Croy said that after shots were fired at President Kennedy he left the police station and began to drive his car home. In downtown Dallas Croy said that he was "hemmed in from both sides" by traffic on Main and Griffin for about 20 minutes. He then drove past the courthouse on Elm and asked police officers, whose names he did not know, if he could be of any assistance. Croy said that after the officers said "No" that he proceeded to drive home. Croy would have us believe that after shots were fired at the President, he left the police station and was told by unknown officers that his services were not needed, when many off-duty police officers were called at home and told to report for duty. Croy testified that while talking with the police officers in front of the courthouse his estranged wife "pulled up beside me" in her car. They began talking and then decided to go to lunch together at Austin's Barbecue, even though Croy and his wife were separated. But first, Croy said that he needed to change clothes at his parents' home. On the day of President Kennedy's assassination Croy would like us to believe that his priorities were to drive to his parents' house, change clothes, and have lunch with his estranged wife!!
CROY'S WARREN COMMISSION TESTIMONY ASIDE, HIS WHEREABOUTS FROM 12:30 PM UNTIL 1:10 PM ARE UNKNOWN. HIS STORY OF SITTING IN HIS CAR WHEN THE PRESIDENT WAS SHOT, AND GETTING HEMMED IN WITH TRAFFIC FOR 20 MINUTES GAVE HIM AN ALIBI TO ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 3/4 OF AN HOUR OF HIS TIME. CROY WOULD LIKE US TO BELIEVE THAT ON THE DAY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS KILLED, ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE DAYS OF THE CENTURY, HE DECIDED TO HAVE LUNCH WITH HIS ESTRANGED WIFE AND GO HOME.
Capt. Westbrook and Sgt. Croy, 12:37 PM to 1:15 PM
I do not believe that Westbrook walked to the TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY nor do I believe he was in the Book Depository. I do not believe that Croy spoke with police officers in front of the court house, or had lunch with his wife, or went home to change clothes. I believe Westbrook and Croy's stories and lies to the Warren Commission were an attempt to hide their real activities following the assassination of President Kennedy. I believe that around 12:37 PM Westbrook, along with Croy, drove to the Texas School Book Depository in Westbrook's unmarked police car.
I believe these two men searched the Marsalis Ave bus (stopped near Elm and Houston) intending to locate and murder HARVEY Oswald. After learning that Oswald was not on the Marsalis bus, they commandeered Dallas police car #207 and drove past Oswald's rooming house around 1:00 PM. They they picked up drove HARVEY Oswald and drove him to the alley behind the Texas Theater. They then drove 6 blocks east, thru the alley between Jefferson Blvd and 10th St., and parked between two houses at 404 and 410 E. 10th, and witnessed LEE Oswald talking with Tippit thru the passenger side car window. When Tippit saw Westbrook arrive in the squad car, he got out of his patrol car and was shot and killed by LEE Oswald. A neighbor (Mrs. Doris Holan), and likely Domingo Benavides, saw a man (Westbrook) get out of the squad car and hurry toward Tippit who was dying and laying next to his squad car. A neighbor, Acquilla Clemmons, heard shots and then saw two men as they hurried off in different directions. Westbrook hurried back to squad car #207, backed up into the alley, and left Sgt. Croy at the scene. The squad car was seen in the alley by Sam Guinyard who worked at Harris Motors, across the alley from Virginia Davis' house. Westbrook then met up with LEE Oswald near the Abundant Life Church, drove him to the Texas Theater, and then returned in car #207 to the TSBD.
While While near the TSBD Westbrook told the W.C. that he heard the police dispatcher report "over his radio" that a police officer had been shot in Oak Cliff. "His radio" is a clear indication that Westbrook drove and parked his unmarked police car to the TSBD. Westbrook then told the W.C. that he was driven to the scene of the Tippit murder, but was unable to remember the name of the police officer who was driving the squad car. Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell, however, said that Westbrook drove his unmarked police car to Oak Cliff, with DPD officer Sgt. Stringer sitting in the passenger seat and Ewell sitting in the rear seat. Westbrook lies to the W.C. were an attempt to distance himself from his presence in Oak Cliff and from his involvement with the murder of Officer Tippit.
Westbrook told the W.C. that he was driven to the scene of Tippit's murder. But news reporter Jim Ewell said that Westbrook drove his unmarked squad car to Jefferson Blvd., and stopped near the Texaco station where he and Sgt. Stringer got out of the car. A few minutes later Westbrook just happened to find Oswald's jacket in the parking lot behind the Texaco Station, and he then drove to 10th & Patton where he showed fellow police officers Oswald's wallet. After the police dispatcher reported a "suspicious man" had entered the Texas Theater Capt. Westbrook was the first police officer to arrive at the Texas Theater, parking his unmarked squad car directly in front of the theater. Westbrook was standing next to HARVEY Oswald when he was arrested and told officers to cover Oswald's face. Sgt. Gerry Hill, who worked for Westbrook in the personnel office, placed HARVEY Oswald in the back seat of Westbrook's unmarked police car and rode with him to police headquarters.
We must remember that reserve officer Sgt. Kenneth Croy was with Westbrook near 10th & Patton and witnessed the shooting of Tippit. Croy told the W.C. he saw Tippit's body loaded into the ambulance, which arrived only minutes after the shooting. And, perhaps even more important, we must remember that Sgt. Croy was standing next to Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police station when Ruby lunged forward to shoot and kill HARVEY Oswald. Westbrook and Croy were very much involved as co-conspirators.
HARVEY OSWALD AND LEE OSWALD
Lee Oswald
After President Kennedy was shot LEE Oswald, wearing a white t-shirt, left the Book Depository thru an overhead door on the west side of the building, walked down the steps adjacent to the parking shed, walked across the Elm Street extension, and a few minutes later was seen by 5 witnesses hurrying down the grassy knowl and getting into a Nash Rambler station wagon at 12:40 PM (see sign on top of TSBD).
Twenty minutes later (circa 1:00 PM) LEE Oswald was seen walking west on 10th and Denver Streets in Oak Cliff, wearing a white Eisenhower-type jacket over a white t-shirt, and carrying a .38 revolver.
Harvey Oswald
HARVEY Oswald's actions and movements within 45 minutes after President Kennedy was murdered, in front of the building where Oswald was employed, demonstrate that he may have had prior knowledge that "something" was going to happen in Dealey Plaza on 11/22/63. The extent of his knowledge and involvement are unknown, but his actions immediately following the shots fired at President Kennedy clearly indicate he was more than just an innocent bystander. HARVEY Oswald was clearly following detailed "orders/instructions" on Thursday, November 21 and on Friday, November 22 that were given to him by someone very close to the conspirators, as the following examples show.
The next day, November 22, HARVEY Oswald's actions, his whereabouts, his demeanor, and a few unusual possessions taken from him when arrested are totally out of character and cannot be explained. The simple and most logical answer is that HARVEY Oswald was carrying these items as a direct result of following orders....
* Why would HARVEY Oswald, or anyone, hide out in the unoccupied 2nd floor lunchroom at the TSBD, while President Kennedy's motorcade was passing by in front of the building? This is very peculiar and has never been understood nor explained. He was following orders.
* Why would HARVEY Oswald leave the Book Depository and Dealey Plaza within minutes of the shooting, on one of the most infamous days in US history? He was following orders.
* Why would HARVEY Oswald board the Marsalis St. bus, instead of the nearby Beckley St. bus which he rode to and from work every day? He was following orders.
* HARVEY Oswald was last seen by housekeeper Earlene Roberts a minute or two after 1:00 PM, yet 5 minutes later he was inside of the Texas Theater. This can only be explained if HARVEY was driven to the Texas theater. He was following orders.
* Why would HARVEY Oswald, or anyone who was in Dealey Plaza when the President of the United States was murdered, attend a war movie 35 minutes later in Oak Cliff? This is bizarre behaviour. HARVEY went to the Texas Theater because he was following orders.
* HARVEY Oswald's actions at the Texas Theater, moving from seat to seat, clearly suggest he was looking for his contact. He was following orders.
* HARVEY Oswald's possession of the two halves of two one dollar bills is very unusual, and suggests these were to be used to confirm the identity of an alleged contact within the theater. He was following orders.
* HARVEY Oswald's possession of a .38 caliber revolver, inside a darkened movie theater, has never been explained. He was following orders.
* After HARVEY Oswald was arrested his claim that he was a "Patsy" is a good indication that he knew that he had been set up and likely knew the people involved.
Nearly every morning (HARVEY) Oswald would board the Beckley Ave. bus across the street from his rooming house at the corner of Beckley and Zhang. After work he would board the Beckley Ave bus at the bus stop next to the Book Depository. The Beckley Ave. bus would pass under the triple overpass, cross over the Trinity River, turn left on North Beckley Ave., and Oswald would deboard the bus at Beckley and Zang. However, on 11/22/63 HARVEY Oswald did not board the Beckley Ave. bus. HARVEY boarded the Marsalis Ave. bus driven by Cecil McWatters. HARVEY Oswald was following orders.
The Marsalis bus would not take HARVEY anywhere near his rooming house. The Marsalis bus turned left on Houston St. (at the Book Depository), continued south on Houston St., turned right and crossed the Trinity River (Houston St. Viaduct) and then turned left on Marsalis Ave. toward Jefferson Blvd. It appears that HARVEY Oswald's intention was to ride the Marsalis Ave. bus across the Houston St. Viaduct and deboard when the bus turned left at Marsalis St. and Zang Blvd. His intention was likely to meet up with Officer J.D. Tippit, who was sitting in his squad car across the street from the bus stop at the GLOCO station (see aerial map below). I speculate that Tippit's assignment was to drive HARVEY Oswald to the Texas Theater. However, if for some reason Tippit was not at the GLOCO station, then HARVEY could continue riding the bus to Jefferson Blvd, and then transfer to another bus that would take him .7 mile west to the Texas theater.
Bus driver Cecil McWaters told the WC, "As I left Field Street... it is just a short distance onto Griffin Street, and that is when someone, a man, came up and knocked on the door of the bus, and I opened the door of the bus and he got on.... And that is about seven or eight blocks from the Texas Book Depository Building... he just paid his fare and sat down on the second cross seat on the right." HARVEY Oswald's destination was the Texas Theater, where he was likely told that he was to meet up with a "contact" in the darkened theater sometime after 1:00 PM.
A few minutes after (HARVEY) Oswald boarded the Marsalis Ave. bus, it became stalled in traffic. McWatters said, "Well, I was sitting in the bus, there was some gentleman in front of me in a car, and he came back and walked up to the bus and I opened the door and he said, 'I have heard over my radio in my car that the President has been--I believe he used the word--'has been shot.'" McWatters said "that is when the gentleman decided he would get off the bus." Oswald got up from his seat, asked for a bus transfer, put the transfer in his shirt pocket, and got off the bus in the middle of the block, near Poydras and Lamar St.
After leaving McWatters bus HARVEY Oswald walked south on Lamar St. to the Greyhound Bus depot. Taxi driver William Whaley saw Oswald and told the WC, "He was walking south on Lamar from Commerce when I saw him.... He was dressed in just ordinary work clothes. It wasn't khaki pants but they were khaki material, blue faded blue color, like a blue uniform made in khaki. Then he had on a brown shirt with a little silverlike stripe on it and he had on some kind of jacket, I didn't notice very close but I think it was a work jacket that almost matched the pants. He, his shirt was open three buttons down here. He said, 'May I have the cab?'.... And instead of opening the back door he opened the front door, which is allowable there, and got in.... And about that time an old lady, I think she was an old lady, I don't remember nothing but her sticking her head down past him in the door and said, 'Driver, will you call me a cab down here?'.... he [Oswald] said, 'I will let you have this one,' and she said, 'No, the driver can call me one.'" McWatters continued, "I asked him where he wanted to go. And he said, '500 North Beckley.'"
NOTE: This woman was likely the same woman who boarded the Marsalis bus the same time as Oswald, asked for and received a bus transfer, and then deboarded the bus at the same time as Oswald. She may have been, and probably was, following Oswald. If Oswald knew or suspected that the woman was following him, then he had to be careful. Oswald lived at 1026 N. Beckley, but if the woman was close to the taxi when Whaley asked Oswald where he wanted to go, then this could be the reason that Oswald said "500 North Beckley," in an attempt to hide his intended destination from the unknown woman.
As Whaley drove he noticed that his passenger was wearing a shiny bracelet. Whaley told the WC, "I always notice watchbands, unusual watchbands, and identification bracelets like these, because I make them myself....it was just a common stretchband identification bracelet. A lot of them are made of chain links and not stretchbands. Stretchbands are unusual because there is very few of them....this one was a stretchband....he had it on the arm next to me, which was the left arm.
TIPPIT AT THE GLOCO STATION
Around 12:40 PM Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit was observed by 5 witnesses sitting in his patrol car at the GLOCO station (see photo below) watching traffic cross over the Houston Street Viaduct. The author believes that Tippit was waiting for (HARVEY) Oswald to arrive on the Marsalis Ave. bus, which turned left on Marsalis Ave. and allowed passengers to deboard (follow red line in map below). However, unknown to Tippit, Oswald had deboarded the Marsalis Ave. bus, and walked three blocks to the Greyhound bus station where he got into William Whaley's taxi and was driven to N. Beckley (follow blue line in map below). After Oswald failed to arrive on the Marsalis Ave. bus, Officer Tippit hastily left the GLOCO Station, drove south on Lancaster Ave., reported his position at 12:54 PM as "Lancaster & 8th," turned right on Jefferson Blvd., and hurried to the Top 10 Record Store (follow purple line in map below).
NOTE: 10 minutes after the President of the United States was murdered Officer Tippit was sitting in his patrol car watching traffic? Bizarre.
The GLOCO station was at 1502 N. Zang Blvd, just across the Trinity River from downtown Dallas via the Houston Street Viaduct. The 5 witnesses who saw Tippit sitting in his patrol car were photographer Al Volkland, his wife Lou, and three employees of the GLOCO station--Tom Mullins, Emmett Hollingshead, and J.B. "Shortly" Lewis. They all knew Tippit personally.
Officer Tippit knew LEE Oswald and either knew HARVEY Oswald or knew about him. I speculate that on November 22 Officer Tippit was told that his assignment was to make sure that both young men arrived safely at the Texas Theater--first HARVEY Oswald, who he was to meet at the GLOCO Station, and then LEE Oswald who he was to meet near 10th & Patton. I further speculate that HARVEY Oswald was told, and understood, that a police squad car would be waiting for him when he got off the Marsalis St. bus and drive him to the Texas Theater.
Tippit was sitting in his squad car at the GLOCO station, across the street from where McWatters’ bus would turn left at Marsalis Ave. and stop for passengers. The bus would then head south and turn left on Jefferson Blvd (see aerial photo below). Around 12:51-12:53 PM it appears that three things happened:
2) (circa 12:52-53) McWatters’ bus, delayed by traffic in downtown Dallas, finally arrived and turned left on Marsalis Ave., without stopping, and headed south towards Jefferson Blvd. (follow the red line)
3) (circa 12:53) As the bus turned left onto Marsalis Ave. it appears that Officer Tippit left the GLOCO station on Zang Blvd, drove past Marsalis St. and turned right onto Lancaster St, which ran parallell with Marsalis St. (follow the purple line)
Tippit was likely following and/or monitoring McWatters’ bus as it drove south on Marsalis Ave. to see if, when, and where HARVEY Oswald would get off the bus. Around 12:52-12:53 Tippit left the GLOCO station, and turned right onto Lancaster St. At 12:54 PM Tippit reported his position as "Lancaster and 8th," one block east of Marsalis Ave. and two blocks from Jefferson Blvd. Tippit's assignment was likely to either drive HARVEY Oswald to the Texas Theater or simply make sure that HARVEY arrived at the Texas Theater. But when HARVEY Oswald did not get off the bus at either Marsalis Ave. or Jefferson Blvd, Tippit knew there was a problem. He then turned right onto Jefferson Blvd. and drove to the Top 10 record store where he made a phone call.
Around the time Tippit left the GLOCO station taxi driver Whaley drove 1/2 mile past the GLOCO station, turned left on Beckley Ave., and drove past Oswald's rooming house. Whaley said, "when I got pretty close to 500 block at Neches and North Beckley which is the 500 block, he (HARVEY Oswald) said, "This will do fine," and I pulled over to the curb right there (circa 12:54 PM). He gave me a dollar bill, the trip was 95 cents. He gave me a dollar bill and didn't say anything, just got out and closed the door and walked around the front of the cab over to the other side of the street. Of course, traffic was moving through there and I put it in gear and moved on, that is the last I saw of him."
HARVEY Oswald got out of William Whaley's taxi nearly half-way between his rooming house and the Texas Theater.
Did HARVEY intend to ride the taxi to the Texas Theater to meet his contact, or did he simply get out of the taxi at 500 N. Beckley in an effort to keep the unidentified woman (who may have been following him) and taxi driver Whaley from knowing his true destination?? HARVEY Oswald got out of Whaley's taxi and began walking north, back to his rooming house (see aerial photo below). He arrived a minute or two before 1:00 PM and, according to housekeeper Earlene Roberts, arrived "in his shirtsleeves" (see below). HARVEY Oswald spent a minute or two changing his pants and work shirt (t-shirt) before leaving.
Westbrook and Croy
Shortly after shots were fired at President Kennedy I believe that Capt. Westbrook drove his unmarked dark blue police car, with passenger reserve Officer Kenneth Croy, from police headquarters to Dealey Plaza and arrived around 12:40 PM. Westbrook knew that HARVEY Oswald, according to plan, was supposed to be riding on Cecil McWatters’ Marsalis Ave. bus, and he also knew that Tippit was waiting for Oswald to arrive at or near the GLOCO station. I believe that Westbrook parked his unmarked police car near the Book Depository, and then both he and Croy boarded McWatters’ bus looking for HARVEY Oswald. However, a few minutes earlier, before these two policemen boarded the Marsalis Ave. bus, HARVEY Oswald had deboarded the bus. Roy Milton Jones, a passenger on McWatters’ bus, said that police came on the bus and searched passengers for weapons a few minutes after a young man (HARVEY Oswald) got off the bus. The presence of two police officers boarding McWatters' bus was not reported to the Warren Commission nor investigated by the FBI or Dallas Police. After failing to locate HARVEY Oswald on the bus Capt. Westbrook now knew that HARVEY Oswald would not be meeting up with Officer Tippit at or near the GLOCO station. Where was HARVEY Oswald? Why did he get off the bus?
Capt. Westbrook needed to find (HARVEY) Oswald and make sure that he arrived at the Texas Theater. The most likely place to look for HARVEY Oswald was his rooming house on North Beckley. But Westbrook dared not drive his unmarked police car around Oak Cliff looking for the man who would soon be accused of killing President Kennedy. Instead, Capt. Westbrook commandeered one of the many police cars parked in front of the Book Depository, almost certainly squad car #207. Westbrook, along with Sgt. Croy, drove to Oak Cliff in an attempt to locate HARVEY Oswald. Capt. Westbrook obviously knew where Oswald was living, because he drove directly to Oswald's rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley. I believe Capt. Westbrook and Croy were the two police officers seen by Earlene Roberts driving slowly past 1026 N. Beckley in police car #207, honking their horn, while Oswald was in his room changing clothes. Why would anyone in the Dallas Police Dept. have reason to personally know or be acquainted with (HARVEY) Oswald, and know where he was living? Because the man driving car #207, Capt. Westbrook, was involved in a pre-arranged plan to murder Officer Tippit and to blame (HARVEY) Oswald for Tippit’s murder and for the murder of President Kennedy. When Earlene Roberts heard a car honking the horn she looked out the window, saw a police car, and told the FBI the police car was #207. The occupants of car #207 were not only co-conspirators, they were a direct link to the people who conspired to murder President Kennedy.
When Earlene Roberts heard a car honking the horn she looked out the window, saw a police car, and told the FBI the police car was #207 (see FBI report below). The occupants of car #207 were not only co-conspirators, they were a direct link to the people who conspired to murder President Kennedy.
Housekeeper Earlene Roberts saw Oswald as he left the rooming house. She said "I noticed he had a jacket he was putting on. I recall the jacket was a dark color and it was the type that zips up the front." She last saw Oswald near the corner of Beckley and Zhang, on the right side of the rooming house.
Housekeeper Earlene Roberts said "I noticed he had a jacket he was putting on. I recall the jacket was a dark color and it was the type that zips up the front." Westbrook drove car #207 to the corner of Beckley and Zhang (see aerial photo below), and picked up (HARVEY) Oswald. Westbrook then drove Oswald to the deserted alley behind the Texas Theater, less than a mile away, and arrived about 1:03 PM (follow the green line on the aerial photo below). During this short trip Westbrook may have given (HARVEY) Oswald the .38 caliber revolver that was later taken from him when he was arrested. (HARVEY) Oswald arrived at the Texas Theater wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, and was now without the dark colored jacket that housekeeper Earlene Roberts saw him zipping up as he left the rooming house. (HARVEY) likely left this jacket in the police car driven by Westbrook.
In the darkened theater (HARVEY) Oswald was likely told that he was to meet up with his contact, and confirm the contact's identity by matching the serial number on his half of a one dollar bill with the serial number on the other half of the same one dollar bill shown by his contact. But there was no contact for Oswald to meet in the Texas Theater. Oswald meeting his contact in the Texas Theater was merely a ruse, a cleverly thought out ruse that was necessary in order to lure (HARVEY) Oswald into the theater. The real reason for sending Oswald to the theater was to make it appear as though he was hiding from the police in the darkened theater.
The FBI and Warren Commission both understood that Earlene Roberts' identification of police car #207, with two police officers driving past 1026 N. Beckley and honking the horn at 1:00 PM, was a very serious problem. Roberts' testimony linked the two Dallas police officers in car #207 to the man accused of killing President Kennedy only a half hour earlier. The FBI should have immediately questioned the police officer assigned to car #207, but they did not. The Warren Commission, if they were serious about solving this case, should have done everything possible to identify the two policemen inside of car #207, and asked their reason for driving past the rooming house of the man who, only a half hour earlier, allegedly killed President Kennedy. The Commission, however, did virtually nothing. They ignored the problem and simply asked the Dallas Police to determine the whereabouts of car #207 at 1:00 PM on 11/22/63 (see above).
On 11/22/63 car #207 was assigned to Officer Jimmy M. Valentine. A few minutes after shots were fired at President Kennedy (circa 12:34 PM) Officer Valentine, along with Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell and Sgt. Gerry Hill (who worked for Westbrook), drove car #207 from police headquarters to the Book Depository.
DPD car 207 arriving at the TSBD
Valentine parked the car and assisted in the search of the building until late afternoon. When a police officer parked a squad car, turned off the motor and got out of the vehicle, standard police procedure was to remove the car keys. Officer Valentine had the keys to car #207, and likely gave those keys to a fellow officer prior to 1:00 PM, likely to Sgt. Stringer, Sgt. Croy, or to Capt. Westbrook.
Officer Valentine was never questioned
Earlene Roberts' identification of police car #207, driving past 1026 N. Beckley at 1:00 PM and honking the horn, was a very serious problem. How would the Dallas police explain two of their officers driving past the rooming house of the man accused of killing President Kennedy only a half hour earlier? Who were these two police officers? Who ordered them to 1026 N. Beckley? Officer Valentine had the keys to car #207 and he would only have given the keys to a fellow police officer, and Valentine knew the identity of this officer. But Jimmy Valentine was never investigated nor questioned. Why not? Valentine should have been interviewed by DPD internal affairs, the FBI, the Secret Service, and/or the Warren Commission and asked who borrowed his squad car that afternoon. Valentine should have provided a written statement or affidavit as to either the location of car #207 or the officer to whom he gave the keys to car #207 prior to 1:00 PM on 11/22/63. The opportunity to identify and connect the police officers in car #207 with (HARVEY) Oswald was now lost, and I believe was intentionally lost.
To resolve this problem (cover-up this problem) a brief "letter of explanation" was prepared and given to Chief of Police Jesse Curry, who then forwarded this letter to the Warren Commission. This "letter of explanation" claimed that car #207 was parked at the Book Depository all afternoon. But this letter was not written or signed by Officer Jimmy Valentine, or his Sergeant, or his Lieutenant, or his Platoon Commander (Capt. Cecil Talbert). This letter was prepared and signed by the man in charge of the personnel department--Capt. W.R. Westbrook--the man who I believe drove car #207 past Oswald's rooming house (with Sgt. Croy) and was seen by Earlene Roberts.
NOTE: 1) Sgt. J. A. Putnam was never questioned about his receiving keys to police cars parked at or near the TSBD.
2) Why would keys to police cars given to Sgt. Putnam at the TSBD be given to the 3rd Platoon Commander
at City Hall, instead of returned to officers assigned to those cars?
The pre-planned murder of Officer J.D. Tippit
After dropping (HARVEY) Oswald off in the deserted alley behind the Texas Theater, Westbrook and Croy drove police car #207 six blocks east thru the same alley and, after passing Patton St., turned left onto a very narrow driveway between two houses at 404 and 410 E. 10th (follow the purple line in the photo below).
NOTE: The red lines in the image below are the Warren Commissions version of LHO's movements
Westbrook and Croy arrived and parked car #207 between the two houses (red spot in photo below) around 1:06 PM, as LEE Oswald was talking quietly with Officer Tippit thru the passenger window of his police car (yellow spot in photo below).
As Oswald and Tippit were talking, Jack Roy Tatum was driving west on 10th St. in his new, red, Ford Galaxie 500. As he drove slowly past Tippit's squad car Tatum saw a young white male with both hands in the pockets of his zippered jacket leaning over the passenger side window of the squad car. Tatum said, "It looked as if Oswald and Tippit were talking to each other.... It was almost as if Tippit knew Oswald." Of course they knew each other. LEE Oswald was the same man that Tippit sat next to at the Dobbs Restaurant two days earlier (see below), on Wednesday at 10:00 AM, while HARVEY Oswald was working at the Book Depository.
Dobbs Restaurant 11/20/63
Tatum said, "he had on a light colored zipper jacket, dark trousers and what looked like a t-shirt on." Tatum later told House Select Committee investigator Moriarty that he did NOT see (LEE) Oswald wearing a brown shirt, only a white t-shirt. While LEE Oswald was talking with Tippit, HARVEY Oswald was sitting in the Texas Theater wearing a long sleeve, dark brown shirt.
A minute or two before Westbrook and Croy arrived, Officer Tippit had parked his police car at the front entrance of this very narrow driveway that ran from 10th St. to the alley behind the houses. If a vehicle turned from the alley onto this narrow driveway then Tippit, parked on 10th St directly in front of this driveway, would see the approaching car immediately. I believe that when Officer Tippit saw the police car stop between the two houses, he got out of his car and began walking toward the police car for a pre-arranged meeting with Capt. Westbrook.
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Tippit's squad car was parked directly in front of the entrance to the narrow driveway between 404 and 410 E. 10th'
The 2nd police car, seen by Mrs. Holan, drove from the alley towards Tippit's car and parked between the two houses
HARVEY Oswald at the Texas Theater
At 1:06 PM, while LEE Oswald and Officer Tippit were talking together near 10th & Patton, "HARVEY Oswald" (wearing a dark brown long sleeved shirt) was inside of the Texas Theater (click here to see YouTube interview with Burroughs). According to Butch Burroughs, the "ticket-taker" who also operated the candy and popcorn booth, HARVEY Oswald arrived at the theater between 1:01-1:07 PM, and almost certainly purchased a ticket from Julia Postal. If HARVEY Oswald had not purchased a ticket then Burroughs (the"ticket-taker") would have asked HARVEY Oswald if he had purchased a ticket when he sold Oswald popcorn.
We now have additional reason to doubt Johnny Brewer's claim that he saw Oswald, wearing a brown long sleeve shirt, near his shoe store around 1:30 PM. Brewer claimed that he saw Oswald rush into the Texas Theater without buying a ticket, and then convinced cashier Julia Postal to call the police.
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Brewer then claimed that he pointed out Oswald in the theater to the police. However…. Tommy Rowe, who worked in Hardy's Shoe Store with Brewer, told Penn Jones that it was he, not Brewer, who told police the man they were looking for was wearing a brown long-sleeve shirt. But how would Tommy Rowe, or anyone except Westbrook and Croy, know what HARVEY Oswald was wearing inside the theater?
NOTE: Tommy Rowe was a close friend of Jack Ruby. In fact, after Ruby murdered HARVEY Oswald Tommy Rowe moved into Ruby's apartment.
HARVEY Oswald, sitting in the theater since 1:01-1:07 PM had discarded his light colored zip-up jacket before he arrived at the theater. While in the theater HARVEY Oswald was wearing a brown long-sleeve shirt. It is possible and likely that Tommy Rowe was given a description of HARVEY Oswald and his clothing, which he then passed onto fellow store employee Johnny Brewer. Brewer, believing that a suspicious man had snuck into the theater, then walked to the theater and asked ticket seller Julia Postal if she sold this man a ticket. Brewer then entered the theater, and told Butch Burroughs that a suspicious man had snuck into the theater.
NOTE: it seems somewhat strange that the manager of the Hardy Shoe Store would take it upon himself to show so much interest in a man who had allegedly snuck into the theater.
Neither Brewer nor Buroughs located the man inside the theater and circa 1:40 PM Brewer convinced Julia Postal to call the police. Postal did call the police and reported that a suspicious man had snuck into the theater, which could not have been either HARVEY or LEE at 1:40 PM. Researcher Leo Sauvage asked Dallas Assistant District Attorney Jim Bowie if Postal's telephone call was the reason police descended on the theater. The District Attorney replied, "a half dozen phone calls were made to the Dallas Police reporting that a suspicious man had just snuck into the Texas Theater." Who were these half dozen people?? Maybe Tommy Rowe, Jack Ruby, Croy, Westbrook ?? Soon there were two dozen police officers at the theater, looking for a young man who's only crime was, allegedly, sneaking into the theater. A DPD officer reported that "an usher" or "theater employee" (Tommy Rowe) pointed out the man in the theater who was soon arrested by police. The only employees at the Texas Theater when LHO was arrested were 1) Julia Postal 2) Butch Burroughs 3) a projectionist.
Brewer could not possibly have seen either HARVEY or LEE Oswald at his shoe store
Neither Brewer nor Rowe could have seen HARVEY Oswald, wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, walk past Hardy's Shoe Store at 1:30 PM, because HARVEY Oswald had been inside the theater since 1:01-1:07 PM. And neither Brewer nor Rowe could have seen LEE Oswald walk past Hardy's Shoe Store because LEE Oswald had discarded his light colored jacket and was wearing only a white t-shirt. The only way that Rowe could have known the man police were looking for was wearing a long sleeve brown shirt was if someone (Tommy Rowe) told him or if he personally saw HARVEY enter the theater. And the only way that Johnny Brewer could have known this man was wearing a long sleeve brown shirt was if Tommy Rowe told him, because neither HARVEY nor LEE walked past Hardy's Shoe Store at any time. When Brewer entered the Texas Theater he was looking for a man wearing a long sleeve brown shirt. The logical explanation is that Rowe was either given information as to Oswald's clothing or perhaps he saw HARVEY enter the theater. Either way, Tommy Rowe was connected to people who were involved with the pre-planning of Tippit's murder and the subsequent arrest of HARVEY Oswald inside the theater. And Tommy Rowe's most likely contact was his close friend, Jack Ruby.
Above from a 1971 Midlothian
Mirror article by Penn Jones.
Jones Harris, a long time assassination investigator from New York City, arrived in Dallas the day after the assassination. Harris interviewed Julia Postal in the office of the manager of the Texas Theater. Harris asked Postal if she sold a ticket to the man arrested in the theater by the Dallas Police. Postal immediately burst into tears. Harris walked out of the office and returned a short time later. When Harris asked Postal again if she sold Oswald a ticket she again burst into tears.
Julia Postal in the centrally located ticket booth
Harris was convinced that Postal knew that she sold HARVEY Oswald a ticket to the theater. Butch Burroughs told Texas researcher Jim Marrs that Postal knows that she sold Oswald a ticket. Burroughs also told researcher Jim Marrs that he sold HARVEY Oswald popcorn around 1:15 PM, and surely knew that he had taken Oswald's ticket when he entered the theater.
After buying popcorn (circa 1:15 PM) HARVEY Oswald took a seat next to a pregnant woman (looking for his contact; but how likely is it that a pregnant woman would watch a war movie, alone, at 1:15 PM in the afternoon??). Within a few minutes both Oswald and the woman got up from their seats (the woman was never seen again). According to Butch Burroughs, the pregnant woman disappeared was never seen again. HARVEY Oswald walked into the concession area and then back into the lower level and took a seat next to Jack Davis in the first row on the right side. Eighteen year old Davis, who later became a minister in Dallas, remembered that Oswald was sitting next to him, in the near empty theater, as the opening credits to the movie began--a few minutes before 1:20 PM. After sitting next to Davis for a few minutes, Oswald got up and walked past empty seats to the small aisle on the right side of the theater and into the concession area. Davis watched HARVEY Oswald as he again re-entered the theater and took a seat next to a man on the back row, directly across the aisle from Davis. Within a few minutes HARVEY Oswald got up and once again returned to the concession area. He returned a few minutes later and took a seat across the aisle from Mr. Davis, and then moved to another seat on the fourth row. It appeared to Davis as though HARVEY Oswald was looking for someone, perhaps a contact. Davis was correct. HARVEY Oswald was looking for his contact.
After HARVEY Oswald was arrested, the police found halves of two different dollar bills in his wallet. This was a CIA method of clandestine contact (review CIA memorandum of 7/9/63 below). Wherever and whenever Oswald met his contact, this contact would provide confirmation of his or her identity by showing the other half of these dollar bills and confirm the serial numbers matched. Curiously, neither of these half-dollar bills were listed on the police inventory of 11/23/63, the joint FBI/Dallas Police inventory of Oswald's possessions on 11/26/63, nor were these items photographed. At the National Archives, in Adelphi, MD, I inspected and handled each item of inventory listed on the joint FBI/Dallas Police inventory of 11/26/63. These items were not among the inventory nor were they ever mentioned by the Warren Commission. They were, however, described in detail on a Dallas Police inventory report.
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David Atlee Phillips wrote in his 1977 autobiography about using similar techniques. Phillips wrote that when he would meet a contact at a movie theater, whom he didn't know, he carried with him a previously arranged item and recognized a pre-arranged coded phrase.
Now, with HARVEY Oswald sitting in the theater, let's return to 10th & Patton
Officer J.D. Tippit lived with his wife and family at 238 Glencairn, 7 miles south of 10th & Patton, and patrolled area 78 in South Oak Cliff, far away from 10th & Patton. On November 22 Tippit was in the area of central Oak Cliff, patrol district 91, which was assigned to Officer William Mentzel, and Tippit was several miles from his assigned district. Curiously, several of the people who witnessed the shooting of Officer Tippit near 10th & Patton either knew him or were familiar with him, even though he was many miles from his assigned patrol area. Jimmy Burt, a witness to the Tippit shooting, knew Tippit "as an officer who frequented the neighborhood." Burt said, "This particular officer was known by the name 'Friendly' to the residents of that area." Taxi Driver William Scoggins said, "I wasn't paying too much attention to the man, you see, just used to see him every day." Witness Aquila Clemmons, who lived at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Smathers at 327 E. 10th, told researcher Mark Lane that she saw Tippit "all the time." Five witnesses at the nearby GLOCO station said they knew Tippit personally, yet the area around 10th & Patton was several miles from his assigned patrol district.
Tippit's familiarity with numerous local residents could be explained and understood by the Warren Commission testimony of Virginia Davis, who lived at 400 E. 10th, the house next door to where Tippit was shot and killed. Davis was asked by Commission attorney David Belin "Where was the police car parked?" Davis answered, and her answer is very important, "It was parked between the hedge that marks the apartment house where he (Tippit) lives in (410 E. 10th) and the house next door (404 E. 10th)." According to Virginia Davis, Officer Tippit was living in the house at 410 E. 10th, two houses east of her house. This house is actually a duplex apartment, with 410 E. 10th in the front and 408 E. 10th in the rear of the house. If Tippit was having an affair with a woman living in this house, this would explain not only his familiarity with local residents, but could also explain a familiar location where he could meet up with LEE Oswald and Capt. Westbrook.
Tippit, meeting up with LEE Oswald and Capt Westbrook shortly after 1:00 PM, at this precise location was no accident. Tippit pulled his patrol car over to the curb and parked directly in front of the narrow driveway between 410 and 404 E. 10th St. Tippit could now see Westbrook's police car when it turned from the alley onto the narrow driveway. LEE Oswald, who had already been walking in a westerly direction and passed by 404 E. 10th, turned around and walked back in an easterly direction to Tippit's squad car. Tippit shut down his squad car and began talking quietly with LEE Oswald thru the passenger car window while waiting for Westbrook to arrive. A minute or two later Westbrook arrived and intentionally parked patrol car #207 between the two houses (410 and 404 E. 10th St) facing 10th St.. Only the front of patrol car #207 could be seen, was several car lengths from Tippit's patrol car, and was mostly hidden from view. After Westbrook arrived Tippit slowly got out of his squad car and began walking toward the 2nd police car for a pre-arranged meeting with Capt. Westbrook. But Tippit did not know that LEE Oswald's assignment was to shoot and kill him. When Tippit got out of his car, he had less than a minute to live.
As Tippit got out of his car LEE Oswald stood up and backed away from the patrol car. As Tippit began walking around the front of his car, toward the police car driven by Westbrook, LEE Oswald pulled a .38 revolver and fired three shots. After Tippit fell to the ground LEE Oswald began to leave the scene and walked toward the back of Tippit's patrol car. He then stopped, returned to the front of the patrol car where Tippit was laying, and deliberately shot him in the head (around 1:06-1:07 PM).
Something or someone caused LEE Oswald to stop, turn around, and fire another shot into Tippit's head. Could Capt. Westbrook, who was getting out of police car #207 at the same time, have said to LEE Oswald, "finish the job, make sure he's dead," or something similar? That could have caused LEE Oswald to stop, turn around and re-trace his steps, and then shoot Tippit in the head with a fourth shot. Jack Tatum had just driven past Tippit's patrol car and saw the two men talking. Tatum stopped his vehicle when he heard shots fired, and saw the assailant (LEE Oswald) fire the 4th shot into Tippit's head. Tatum said, "whoever shot Tippit was determined that he shouldn't live and he was determined to finish the job."
Establishing the time of Tippit's murder
HARVEY Oswald was arrested and accused of murdering Officer Tippit. He was questioned/interrogated by the Dallas Police on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. I find it amazing that Oswald was never asked anything about the Tippit murder. He was never asked his direction of travel to 10th & Patton, never asked his reason for shooting the officer, never asked his direction of travel to the Texas Theater, never asked if he bought a ticket to the theater. Why not.... or was he??
The Warren Commission concluded “the shooting of Tippit has been established at approximately 1:15 or 1:16 p.m.” Their conclusion, however, was based on the exclusion of many important witnesses, evidence and documents that were altered and.or disappeared, and the FBI:
1) Dallas Police dispatcher recordings that were tape and disk recorded. Unknown to the Warren Commission, these items had been altered.
2) the amount of time required to allow HARVEY Oswald sufficient time to walk from his rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley to 10th and Patton.
3) limited selection and choice of witnesses; exclusion of numerous witnesses.
Evidence shows that Officer Tippit was shot and killed at 1:06 PM.
1:00 PM. About 1:00 PM Frank Cimino, who was living in an apartment at 403 E. 10th St., heard four shots and saw a police car parked on the street and a police officer lying on the ground. He walked across the street and stood beside Helen Markham, who was the first person to approach Tippit as he lay dead or dying on the street.
1:00 PM. At approximately 1:00 PM Francis Kinneth heard two or three shots and saw a policeman laying on the pavement near the front of his police car.
1:00 PM. Shortly after 1:00 PM Albert Austin heard two or three shots and saw a policeman lying in front of a police car on the left front side.
1:06 PM. On 11/22/63 Domingo Benavides was working as a mechanic for Dootch Motors (with Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard, only one block from the Tippit shooting. He also worked a barber. Benavides was driving his yellow 1958 Chevrolet pickup truck west on 10th St. As he approached the squad car Benavides saw a policeman get out of the car and walk toward the front of his vehicle. He then saw a man, standing near the passenger door of the squad car, shoot Officer Tippit. Benavides immediately slammed on the brake of his pickup truck, turned toward the curb, and stop. At this point Benavides was the closest witness to the shooting of Tippit, about 15 feet from the front of Tippit's squad car on the opposite side of the street.
Domingo Benavides and his 1958 yellow Chevrolet pickup at the Tippit murder scene (re-enactment)
NOTE: It is very likely that Benavides saw the 2nd police car parked between the two houses (Capt. Westbrook, Sgt. Croy). It is also likely that Benavides, like witness Doris Holan, saw a man (Westbrook) approach Tippit's body after the shooting and then saw the squad car back up to the alley. Benavides, however, dared not report that two Dallas police officers were on site and witnessed the Tippit shooting.
Benavides told the Warren Commission, "I heard the shot, and I just turned into the curb. Looked around to miss a car, I think. And then I pulled up to the curb, hitting the curb, and I ducked down, and then I heard two more shots... I looked up and the Policeman was in, he seemed like he kind of stumbled and fell....there was another car that was in front of me, a red Ford, I believe. I didn't know the man, but I guess he was about 25 or 30, and he pulled over. I didn't never see him get out of his car, but when he heard the scare, I guess he was about six cars from them, and he pulled over, and I don't know if he came back there or not."
NOTE: The man driving the red Ford was Jack Roy Tatum, who was driving west on 10th St. in his new, red, Ford Galaxie 500. As Tatum drove slowly past Tippit's squad car he saw a young white male with both hands in the pockets of his zippered jacket leaning over the passenger side window of the squad car. Tatum said, "It looked as if Oswald and Tippit were talking to each other.... It was almost as if Tippit knew Oswald."
Benavides, sitting in his pickup, watched as the shooter (LEE Oswald) left the scene. He told the W.C., "then I seen the man turn and walk back to the sidewalk and go on the sidewalk and he walked maybe 5 foot and then kind of stalled. He didn't exactly stop. And he threw one shell and must have took five or six more steps and threw the other shell up, and then he kind of stepped up to a pretty good trot going around the corner....I remember the back of his head seemed like his hairline was sort of--looked like his hairline sort of went square instead of tapered off and he looked like he needed a haircut for about 2 weeks, but his hair didn't taper off, it kind of went down and squared off and made his head look fiat in back (accurately described by barber Domingo Benavides).
NOTE: Benavedes description of the shooters hairline is important..."the back of his [LEE Oswald's] head seemed like his hairline sort of went square instead of tapering off. His hair didn't taper off, it kind of went down and squared off." HARVEY Oswald's hairline, as we know from numerous photographs taken at the police station, extended well down his neck and past his collar line--it was not "squared off" as described by Benavides.
A few minutes after the shooter disappeared from sight, Benavides got out of his truck and walked about 15 feet to Tippit's squad car (circa 1:09 PM). He told the W.C., "I set there for just a few minutes...I got out of the truck and walked over to the Policeman, and he was lying there and he had, looked like a big clot of blood coming out of his head, and his eyes were sunk back in his head, and just kind of made me feel real funny. I guess I was really scared. I went in and pulled the radio and I mashed the button and told them that an officer had been shot, and I didn't get an answer, so I said it again, and this guy asked me whereabouts all of a sudden, and I said, on 10th Street. I couldn't remember where it was at at the time. So I looked up and I seen this number and I said 410 East 10th Street...I put the radio back. I mean, the microphone back up, and this other guy was standing there (T.F.Bowley, who arrived at 1:10 PM, was standing by the drivers door of Tippit's patrol car)."
NOTE: Benavides told the Warren Commission that he used the police radio, notified the police dispatcher that a police officer had been shot, and gave the address as 410 East 10th Street. However, Benavides's voice is not heard on the police dictabelt nor is his conversation with the police dispatcher recorded on the DPD police transcript.
1:06 PM. Helen Markham had just arrived at the northwest corner of 10th & Patton, en route to catch the city bus one block south at Jefferson & Patton (at 1:15 PM). She told the Warren Commission it was "6 or 7 minutes after 1." Markham saw a police car drive slowly past her and pull over to the curb. She watched as a young man walked over to Tippit's car and began talking with him thru the passenger side window. A minute later the young man stood up and backed away from the car as the officer slowly got out of his car. As the policeman began walking toward the front of the patrol car the young man pulled a gun and shot the officer. Markham began screaming and shouting as she watched the young man run west across Patton Street and hurry south toward Jefferson Blvd. Markham hurried over to the policeman, lying next to his car on the pavement. She told the Warren Commission that very soon an unknown man arrived: "He had a hat on. I thought he was a policeman." This man was likely reserve officer Sgt. Croy, who was wearing a police uniform and a white police hat. As a reserve officer Croy was not allowed to carry a gun, which may have caused Markham to wonder if he was, in fact, a policeman. Croy told the Warren Commission that he interviewed Markham for the next 5-10 minutes and then turned her over to officers when they arrived on the scene. If the man wearing a hat was not Croy, who Markham thought was a policeman, then who was it?
1:06 PM. Mrs. Margie Higgins, who lived at 417 East 10th St. was watching television and later told reporters, "Well, I was watching the news on television and for some reason the announcer turned and looked at the clock and said the time was six minutes after one (1:06 PM). At that point I heard the shots." Mrs. Higgins described the shooter and said, "He definitely was not the man they showed on television." Mrs. Higgins was perhaps the first citizen to call the police (circa 1:06 PM).
1:06-1:07 PM. Mrs. Frank Wright lived at 501 East 10th St, a half block from where Tippit was shot. She heard 3 shots, looked out her window, and saw a man lying in the street. She ran to her phone, dialed "0," and said to the operator, "Call the police, a man's been shot." When the police received Mrs. Wright's call they pushed a button that connected directly with the ambulance dispatcher. An ambulance was dispatched immediately from Dudley Hughes ambulance service at 400 E. Jefferson Blvd, less than two blocks from 10th & Patton.
1:06-1:07 PM. As Frank Wright ran outside he saw "a woman come down from her porch, about three or four doors from the intersection of 10th & Patton, the same side of the street as Tippit's car.... I heard her shout, 'Oh, he's been shot!,' throwing up her hands. Then she went back up toward the house." This woman, likely Mrs. Ann McCravey (404 east Tenth Street), was never interviewed by the DPD, the FBI, or the WC. She was, however, interviewed by the BBC.
1:06-1:07 PM. Mrs. Doris Holan lived directly across the street from the Tippit shooting, on the 2nd floor at 409 E Tenth Street. Mrs. Holan had just returned home from her job a few minutes after 1:00 PM when she heard several gunshots. From her 2nd floor bedroom window she had an excellent view of the murder scene, and saw Tippit lying on the street near the left front of his patrol car. Mrs. Holan observed the shooter as he was walking across Virginia Davis's lawn toward Patton. Mrs. Holan also noticed a 2nd police car parked in the narrow driveway between two houses directly across the street (car #207, occupied by Capt. Westbrook and Sgt. Croy). Tippit's car was parked on 10th St., directly in front of the narrow driveway, and prevented the 2nd police car from driving onto 10th St. Mrs. Holan watched as a man, who I believe was Capt. Westbrook, get out of the police car and walk over to Tippit's body. The man appeared to observe the bullet wound on Tippit's head, and then quickly returned to the police car that was backing up toward the alley. If this man was not Capt. Westbrook, then who was it?
Acquilla Clemmons was sitting on the porch at 327 E. 10th, about 1/2 block west and on the opposite side of 10th St. She told several JFK researchers (Mark Lane, Shirley Martin, Vince Salandria, George and Virginia Nash) there were two men involved in the murder of Tippit. She told Mark Lane the shooter was a “short guy and kind of heavy,” who she saw reloading his gun while walking away. She saw the other man, tall and thin in khaki trousers and a white shirt, motion to the shooter to "go away...go on." The second man then hurried off in a different direction. Clemmons said that two days later a policeman, wearing a blue uniform, hat, and carrying a gun, told her that it was best if she didn't say anything about the murder of Officer Tippit. He said that she might get hurt if she talked about what she saw. Mrs. Clemmons told researcher Shirley Martin the policeman told her that she "might get killed on the way to work." Clemmons said, "they’ll kill people that know something about that. There’s liable to be a whole lot of them. There might be a whole lot of Oswalds and things. You know, you don’t know who you talk to, you just don’t know."
In 1990 a resident of the neighborhood was interviewed by JFK researcher Prof. Bill Pulte, on the condition of anonymity. This resident said that he heard that another man walked down the driveway and approached Tippit just after the shooting.
In January, 1968, Playboy magazine interviewed Jim Garrison. In response to the Garrison interview a reader wrote to Playboy and said, “I read Playboy's Garrison interview with perhaps more interest than most readers. I was an eyewitness to the shooting of policeman Tippit in Dallas on the afternoon President Kennedy was murdered. I saw two men, neither of them resembling the pictures I later saw of Lee Harvey Oswald, shoot Tippit and run off in opposite directions. There were at least half a dozen other people who witnessed this. My wife convinced me that I should say nothing, since there were other eyewitnesses. Her advice and my cowardice undoubtedly have prolonged my life--or at least allowed me now to tell the true story....” (Playboy, January 1968, Vol. 15, No 1, pg 11)
1:06-1:07 PM. Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig was searching the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, when a rifle was discovered. Craig wrote, “… At that exact moment an unknown Dallas police officer came running up the stairs and advised Capt. Fritz that a Dallas policeman had been shot in the Oak Cliff area. I instinctively looked at my watch. The time was 1:06 PM."
1:06-1:07 PM. Barbara Jeanette Davis heard the shots, walked to her front door, and saw the shooter walking thru her yard toward Patton Street. She then called the police and reported that a police officer had been shot. Barbara Davis was probably the third citizen to call the police (circa 1:07-1:08 PM). Her sister in law, Virginia Davis, also heard the shots and looked out the screen door of her home as the shooter (LEE Oswald) was cutting across the yard in front of her house. She watched as he threw two empty shell casings onto the ground. Virginia testified before the Warren Commission:
Mrs. Davis. We saw the boy cutting across the street.
Mr. Belin. Then what did you do or see?
Mrs. Davis. After he disappeared around the corner we ran out in the front yard and down to see what had happened.
Mr. Belin. Then is that when you saw the policeman?
Mrs. Davis. I saw the policeman lying on the street.
Mr. Belin. All right. Did you see or do anything else? Did you see anyone else that you know come up to the policeman?
Mrs. Davis. No sir; there was a lot of people around there.
Mr. Belin. Do you remember about what time of day this was?
Mrs. Davis. I wouldn't say for sure. But it was about 1:30, between 1:30 and 2.
Mr. Belin. All right, after this, did police come out there?
Mrs. Davis. Yes; they was already there.
Mr. Belin. By the time you got out there?
Mrs. Davis. Yes, sir.
Mr. Belin. Then what did you do?
Mrs. Davis. Well, we just stood out there and watched. You know, tried to see how it all happened. But we saw part of it.
Mr. Belin. Then what did you do?
Mrs. Davis. We stood out there until after the ambulance had come and picked him up.
1:07-1:08 PM. Virginia Davis told the Warren Commission that after the shooter (LEE Oswald) ran around the corner of her house a policeman "was already there." I believe this policeman was reserve officer Sgt. Croy who, along with Capt. Westbrook, was sitting in police car #207 when LEE Oswald shot and killed Tippit. Westbrook drove away in the police car, while Croy remained at the scene. If the police officer seen by Virginia Davis seconds after the shooting was not Croy, then who was it?
1:07-1:08 PM. After cutting thru the Davis's front yard the shooter (LEE Oswald) hurried onto Patton Street and walked past the rear of William Scoggins' taxi, which was parked at the corner of 10th & Patton. As the shooter walked south on Patton Street, Scoggins called his dispatcher (D.G. Graham) and reported that a police officer had been shot. The dispatcher called for an ambulance, which arrived within two minutes according to Scoggins, and then called the police. The taxi company dispatcher was probably the 4th citizen to call to the police (circa 1:07-1:08 PM).
1:07-1:08 PM. The shooter hurried south on Patton Street, where he was first seen by Ted Callaway (Dootch Motors) and then by L.J. Lewis, who was on the south side of Jefferson Blvd. at Johnny Reynolds used car lot (corner of Jefferson Blvd. and Patton-510 E. Jefferson Blvd). Lewis heard 3 or 4 shots, and soon saw a man running south on Patton while attempting to load a pistol that he was holding in his right hand. Lewis saw the man as he turned the corner and began walking west on Jefferson Blvd. Lewis went to the car lot's office and was probably the 5th citizen to call the police (circa 1:07-1:08 PM).
1:09-1:10 PM. T.F. Bowley was driving west on 10th Street and arrived a few minutes after the shooting. He looked at his watch--the time was 1:10 PM. Domingo Benavides told the Warren Commission that as he was using the police radio to report the shooting of a police officer, a man was standing beside him. This man was T. F. Bowley, who also used the police radio to report the shooting. An original DPD police transcript, found in the National Archives, lists the time of Bowley's call to the police as 1:10 PM. Bowley's voice can be heard on the police dictabelt and his report to the police dispatcher is written on the DPD police transcript.
1:09-1:10 PM. Ted Callaway worked at a used car lot on Jefferson Blvd., across the alley from where Virginia and Barbara Davis lived. He heard the shooting, and soon saw the shooter hurrying south on Patton at a distance of about 60 ft. Callaway described him as "white male, 27, 5'11", 165 lbs, black wavy hair, fair complected, wearing a light gray Eisenhower type jacket, dark trousers, and a white shirt." When interviewed and filmed many years later, Callaway again said, "he had on a white Eisenhower type jacket and a white t-shirt"--once again, the shooter was not wearing a brown shirt, just a white t-shirt. After the shooter walked around the corner at Patton and Jefferson Blvd. he disappeared from Callaway's view. Callaway then hurried one block north to 10th & Patton. The ambulance arrived and Tippit's body, with help from Callaway and Bowley, was loaded in the ambulance and driven to the nearby Methodist hospital. Ambulance driver Clayton Butler told the HSCA, "I was on the scene one minute or less. From the time we received the call in our dispatch office until Officer Tippit was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital was approximately four minutes." (circa 1:13-1:14). At this time it is very important to remember that reserve officer Sgt. Croy told the Warren Commission that he observed Tippit's body as it was loaded into the ambulance, before any DPD officers arrived.
1:11 PM. Dallas patrolmen R. A. Davenport and W. R. Bardin were in their patrol car when they heard over the police radio of a shooting on 10th St. in Oak Cliff (circa 1:08 PM--the correct, unaltered time as broadcast by the police dispatcher). While en route to the scene of the shooting they saw and followed an ambulance to the Methodist Hospital at 1441 N. Beckley (1.4 miles from 10th & Patton). Upon arrival (circa 1:13-1:14 PM) both officers helped get Officer Tippit into the emergency room and observed the doctors and nurses as they tried to bring Tippit back to life.
1:15 PM. Tippit was pronounced dead on arrival at the Methodist Hospital by Dr. Richard Liguori at 1:15 PM (see below).
Sgt. Kenneth Croy was an unpaid, voluntary reserve officer with the Dallas Police. Croy, as a reserve officer, was not allowed to carry a gun, and could only carry a nightstick. Croy told the Warren Commission that he was the only police officer at 10th & Patton when Tippit was loaded into the ambulance (circa 1:09-1:10 PM). Croy's presence at the Tippit murder scene, only minutes after Tippit was shot, is very suspicious. It order to determine if Croy could have driven to 10th & Patton by the time the ambulance arrived, the time of his self-proclaimed "arrival," we must review and piece together available evidence.
Croy told the Warren Commission that he was at the intersection of Colorado Blvd. and Zang, driving his personal car and listening to his police radio, when he heard the dispatcher broadcast the shooting of Tippit. However, as noted in the typewritten transcript, the dispatcher gave 4 different addresses on Jefferson Blvd. and 10th Street. How did Croy know to drive directly to 10th & Patton? Croy said that he drove to the scene of the shooting (10th & Patton), which is a five minute drive, and watched as Tippit's body was loaded into the ambulance. But what could Croy have heard over his police radio while at Colorado and Zang, a 4-5 minute drive from 10th & Patton? There are 3 possibilities:
1) If Croy listened to the radio calls from Benavides or Bowley to the police dispatcher from Tippits patrol car (circa 1:08-1:09 PM), he could have arrived at 10th & Patton 5 minutes later (circa 1:13-1:14 PM), but this was several minutes after the ambulance left the scene and 1-2 minutes before Tippit was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital. There is no evidence that Croy drove his personal car to 10th & Patton, as he told the Warren Commission. Not a single witness at 10th & Patton saw police Sgt. Croy arrive by car. Where did he park?
2) If Croy heard the first police dispatch, circa 1:08-1:09 PM (based upon calls from citizens), he could have arrived at 10th & Patton 5 minutes later (circa 1:13-1:14 PM), but this was several minutes after the ambulance left the scene and 1-2 minutes before Tippit was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital. There is no evidence that Croy drove his personal car to 10th & Patton, as he told the Warren Commission. Not a single witness at 10th & Patton saw police Sgt. Croy arrive by car. Where did he park?
#3) If we rely on the time as noted in the altered police transcripts, the time of the dispatch is 1:18 PM. The earliest Croy could have arrived at 10th & Patton would have been at 1:23 PM, long after the ambulance left the scene, and eight minutes after Tippit was declared dead at Methodist Hospital.
If Sgt. Croy had arrived at 10th & Patton in his personal car, in uniform, he would have been approached by many witnesses as soon as he got out of his car. But this did not happen, because Croy did not drive to 10th & Patton. Reserve officer Croy most likely arrived at 10th & Patton in police car #207 with personnel officer Capt. Westbrook. Both men sat in the police car and watched momentarily as LEE Oswald shot and killed Tippit at 1:06 PM. Westbrook got out of the car, briefly looked at Tippit lying dead or dying in the street, and then quickly returned to the car. Westbrook left the scene in police car #207 while Croy quietly remained at the scene. During the next few minutes Sgt. Croy kept a low profile, and a few minutes later watched as Tippit's body was loaded into the ambulance (circa 1:09-1:10 PM). After helping load Tippit's body into the ambulance, T.F. Bowley said that he talked with a police sergeant at the scene and then left (see page 3 of the affidavit below).
Below is a list of police officers who were either dispatched or arrived at the scene of the Tippit murder. As can be seen, Croy was the only police sergeant IN UNIFORM when Tippit was loaded into the ambulance, and the only police sergeant available to talk to Temple Ford Bowley. Sgt. Gerald Hill (wearing plain clothes), while en route to 10th & Patton, saw the ambulance carrying Tippit's body at Colorado Blvd & Beckley as it was racing toward the Methodist Hospital. Hill turned left on Beckley and arrived at 10th & Patton a moment before patrolmen Joe Poe and Leonard Jez arrived (circa 1:18 PM). Officers Roy Walker and H.W. Summers arrived a few minutes later, followed by detectives, police photographers, and officers from the Service Division (Identification Bureau, Fingerprint Section, Crime Scene Search Section). A third police sergeant, Calvin "Bud" Owens (in uniform), arrived at 10th & Patton about 20-25 minutes later, but quickly left in response to a report that the suspect was in the library.
Following is a list of police officers who were either dispatched or arrived at 10th & Patton. As can be seen from the list below the only sergeant in uniform who could have spoken with T.F. Bowley after the ambulance left was Croy.
Anglin, Billy N. (patrolman)
Ashcraft, Holly M. (Love Field)
Baggett, E.R. (patrolman-temporarily assigned to special service bureau)
Croy, Kenneth Hudson (sergeant, in uniform; reserve officer)
Gregory, Thomas R. (patrolman)
Hawkins, Ray (patrolman)
Hill, Gerald Lynn. (sergeant--plain clothes; temporarily assigned to Capt. Westbrook's Personnel Bureau; arrived at 10th & Patton a moment before Poe and Jez arrived, circa 1:18-1:19; then went to Jefferson Blvd & Patton)
Hill, Leonard L. (patrolman)
Horn, Henry H. (patrolman)
Hutson, T.A. (patrolman, 3 wheel motorcycle)
Jez, Leonard E. (patrolman; with Poe, first squad at 10th & Patton)
McDonald, M.N. (patrolman)
Mentzel, William D. (patrolman)
Owens, Calvin B. (sergeant--in uniform arrived first at Jefferson Blvd & Patton, to help search buildings; not at 10th & Patton until circa 1:36 PM)
Poe, Joe M. (patrolman; with Jez, first squad at 10th & Patton)
Pollard, Jerry G. (patrolman)
Sebastian, E.G. (patrolman)
Smith, Walter E. (patrolman)
Summers, H.W. (patrolman)
Talbert, Capt. C.E. (plain clothes)
Thornhill, B.T. (accident prevention bureau)
Walker, C.T. (patrolman, accident prevention bureau)
Walker, Roy W. (patrolman, arrived at 10th & Patton circa 1:18 PM)
Westbrook, Capt. William R. (personnel bureau, plain clothes; arrived circa 1:43 PM)
Williams, Frank S. (patrolman)
Williams, J.W. (traffic division)
Croy told the Warren Commission that he "got me a witness" (Helen Markham) and questioned her for "a good 5 or 10 minutes" (circa 1:09-1:19 PM). As Croy was talking with Markham the first squad arrived and began to talk with Markham. Croy can be seen standing next to Helen Markham in this photo. Croy told the Warren Commission that he was at 10th & Patton for "a good 30 minutes." Croy said, "as I got ready to leave, there was another report that he ran into the Texas Theater, a man fitting Oswald's description had ran into the Texas Theater."
On November 23, 1963, only one day after President Kennedy was assassinated, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent the FBI's report on the assassination of President Kennedy to the Chief of the Secret Service, James J. Rowley, along with a letter that said, "The results of our inquiry into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and background information relative to Lee Harvey Oswald." How is this possible? Within 24 hours the Johnson Administration and the FBI decided that Oswald was guilty and were already distributing their written report!! The FBI now needed to collect any and all information related to Oswald that supported their written report, and ignore, destroy, alter, and manipulate information that contradicted their report.
A major problem for the FBI was the timing of the Tippit shooting. (HARVEY) Oswald was last seen near his rooming house circa 1:00-1:01 PM. The time required for him to walk from his rooming house to the scene of the Tippit shooting was 14-16 minutes. However, according to numerous witnesses Officer Tippit was shot and killed about 1:06 p.m. Frank Cimino, Albert Austin, and Francis Kinneth thought the time was slightly earlier… closer to 1:00 PM. The timing of the shooting was critical, and could be accurately determined when Domingo Benavides, T.F. Bowley, and Ted Callaway called the DPD dispatcher from the police radio in Tippit's squad car. The DPD dictabelts and disks recorded the time when L.J. Lewis, Mrs. Frank Wright, Margie Higgins, and taxi driver Scoggins' dispatcher reported the shooting to the police department. The original DPD dictabelts and disks showed the timing of the shooting was circa 1:06 PM.
To resolve this problem the times recorded on the original DPD dispatcher recordings had to be altered. The times needed to show that Tippit was shot circa 1:15-1:16 PM, which provided enough time for (HARVEY) Oswald to walk from his rooming house to 10th & Patton (14-16 minutes). Witnesses who said the shooting happened earlier than 1:15-1:16 were ignored by the FBI and later by the Warren Commission.
During the past fifty years numerous researchers have relied on the times noted on the DPD typewritten transcripts. They have argued continuously as to whether or not Oswald could have walked from his rooming house (1026 N. Beckley) to 10th & Patton in 14 or 15 minutes. W.C. supporters claim there was sufficient time for Oswald to have walked to 10th & Patton and shoot Tippit, while W.C. critics claim there was not sufficient time. Unfortunately, researchers' efforts in his regard have been a total waste of time. Had researchers focused their efforts and attention on the DPD dictabelts and disks, it would have soon become obvious that these recordings had been been altered. They should have focused their attention on the tape recordings and disk recordings of the police dispatcher.
The dictabelts and disks were sealed on the afternoon of 11/22/63 and given to the FBI within days of 11/22/63. The times related to the shooting were then altered, and the altered dictabelts and disks were then given to the Warren Commission. Since 1964 researchers have been mistakenly relying upon the time of day as noted on these altered DPD dictabelts and disks. Following are the details....
DPD dispatcher Murray Jackson, who worked 20 years at the Dallas Police department, told the HSCA that the dictabelts/tapes were sequestered almost immediately after his shift ended on November 22, 1963. Police Chief Lumpkin had the dictabelts and discs placed in sealed envelopes and taken to his office. A few days later the Dallas Police gave the FBI their original dictabelts and discs that contained the original recordings of the dispatchers' radio transmissions from channel 1 and channel 2 on November 22, 1963. Channel one used dictabelts while channel two used eight inch diameter autograph disc records, which resembled a normal stereo record. FBI officials listened to the dictabelt and disc recordings concerning citizens calling and reporting the shooting of a police officer. They reviewed numerous witness statements and examined Tippit's medical records and time of death. Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper at 1026 N. Beckley, said that (HARVEY) Oswald left his rooming house shortly after 1:00 PM (circa 1:01-1:02 PM). The original and unaltered police dictabelts show that four to five minutes later, and .8 of a mile south at 10th & Patton, Tippit was shot and killed at 1:06 PM. The FBI realized that (HARVEY) Oswald could not possibly have walked .8 of a mile from his rooming house to 10th & Patton in 4-5 minutes and shot Tippit at 1:06 PM.
When the shooting of a police officer was first broadcast by the police dispatcher there was much confusion about the exact address of the Tippit shooting, because each caller apparently gave their home address or business address or an address close to Tippit's patrol car. The callers were Barbara Jeanette Davis, L.J. Lewis (510 E. Jefferson Blvd.), Mrs. Margie Higgins (417 E. 10th), Mrs. Frank Wright (501 E. 10th), William Scoggins' dispatcher, and radio transmissions by Domingo Benavides (410 E. 10th), T.F. Bowley (404 E. 10th), and Ted Callaway (501 E. Jefferson Blvd.). The dictabelts and discs recorded the police dispatcher relaying this information to police officers.
The information provided by the dispatcher and recorded by the dictabelt was correct, but the original and correct time of this dispatch (circa 1:06-1:08 PM) had to be changed in order to allow enough time for Oswald to have walked from his rooming house (1:00-1:01 PM) to 10th & Patton and shoot Tippit. The original time that the police dispatcher first notified officers of the Tippit shooting was changed from 1:06-1:08 PM to 1:18 PM (see 1:18 PM above in the typewritten transcripts). The typewritten transcript for channel 1 (below) now shows no calls to the police related to the Tippit shooting from 1:04 to 1:18 PM. The typewritten transcript for channel 2 (below) describes calls to and from the police dispatcher between 1:01 to 1:12 PM as "Most conversations were routine" (click here to view entire transcript). On December 3, 1963 the FBI returned the altered "belts and discs" for channel 1 and channel 2 to Capt. Bowles of the Dallas Police, who at that time had no reason to believe they were not the original dictabelt(s). The Dallas Police would not be able to detect any alteration or tampering with the dictabelt(s). The FBI also told Dallas Police Capt. Bowles that they were experiencing difficulty in preparing typewritten transcripts from the recordings (see below).
Thanks to FBI alterations, but unknown to the Dallas Police, there was now enough time on both the dictabelts and the typewritten transcripts for (HARVEY) Oswald to have walked from his rooming house (circa 1:00 PM) to 10th & Patton in time to shoot Officer Tippit at 1:16 PM. These documents are definitive proof of manipulation and alteration of evidence by the FBI. After the altered dictabelts were returned to the Dallas Police numerous typewritten transcripts were made by the Dallas Police, the FBI, and given to the Warren Commission. Each and every one of these transcripts were taken from the FBI's altered dictabelts and, therefore, should be read and viewed with suspicion.
Dallas Police Officers R.A. Davenport and W.R. Bardin heard the broadcast of the shooting of a police officer on their police radio (circa 1:08 PM) and were en route to the scene of the shooting when they saw, and followed, the ambulance carrying Tippit speeding to the Methodist Hospital (circa 1:11-1:12 PM). There is no doubt these officers arrived at the Methodist Hospital with the ambulance, watched as doctors tried to bring him back to life, and were nearby when Tippit was pronounced dead on arrival at 1:15 PM.
Temple Ford Bowley arrived at 10th & Patton at 1:10 PM. He took the police microphone from Benavides and told the police dispatcher of the shooting of a police officer (below, highlighted in blue). The time on this altered transcript is 1:19 PM (see red arrows. Now, look at the bottom of this transcript "Suspect running west on Jefferson...." It is simply not possible for Bowley to be reporting the shooting of a police officer, before the dispatcher has notified officers of a shooting, while at exactly the same time (1:19 PM) the dispatcher is reporting that a witness saw the suspect running west on Jefferson. The timing of both broadcasts by the dispatcher have been altered.
The FBI's alteration of the dictabelts relating to the shooting of Officer Tippit were the first of several FBI alterations. A dictabelt could record only 15 minutes of continual conversation. A conversation that continued past 15 minutes was automatically routed to a 2nd dictabelt on the same machine, while the first dictabelt was removed and replaced with a new dictabelt. A short conversation, perhaps one minute, would be recorded and the dictabelt machine would continue running for another 4 seconds before automatically shutting off if no further conversation. The machine would automatically start recording with the next conversation. Normally, a dictabelt machine could record dozens of short calls, which could cover an hour or more of calls. But on November 22, 1963, there were continual calls to and from the police dispatcher without interruption. In other words, on November 22, 1963, from 12:00 noon thru 1:00 PM, four dictabelts would be needed in order to record communications to and from the DPD police dispatcher (1 hour = 4 fifteen minute dictabelts).
In order to better understand the FBI's involvement and manipulation with the original DPD dictabelts, simply look at the following information for dictabelts #2 thru #9 returned by the FBI to the Dallas police. Each dictabelt can record only 15 minutes, yet the times covered for each of these dictabelts are from 20-45 minutes--every one of these dictabelts are missing from 10 to 25 minutes of conversation. On dictabelt 6, for example, when the DPD dispatcher had continuous contact with police officers from 12:40 to 1:10 PM (JFK shot at 12:30 PM; Tippit shot at 1:06 PM), this dictabelt has only 15 minutes of recording--and 15 minutes of police related conversation were eliminated!
The Warren Commission received four typewritten transcripts of DPD police logs which, if transcribed from the same DPD dictabelts, should all be identical. However, all are different. Sawyer exhibit "A" (DPD channel 2) was prepared on December 3, 1963. Sawyer exhibit "B" (DPD channel 1) was prepared on December 5, 1963. Commission Exhibit 705 (CE 705) was prepared by the DPD and given to the WC in April, 1964. Commission Exhibit 1974 (CE 1974) was prepared by the FBI, by request of the Warren Commission, in August, 1964. Sawyer exhibits "A" and "B" both end at 1:58 PM on November 22. CE 705 is almost continuous from 10:00 AM on November 22 to 6:00 PM on November 24. CE 1974 was prepared by the FBI in August, 1964, and ends at 3:00 PM on November 22 and ends at 2:00 PM on November 24. Readers are invited to compare and note the many variations, discrepancies, and omissions found when comparing any one of these documents to another (a few examples are shown below). HOWEVER, READERS MUST REMEMBER THAT ALL OF THESE TYPEWRITTEN TRANSCRIPTS, THE FIRST OF WHICH WAS CREATED ON DECEMBER 3, WERE CREATED ONLY AFTER THE FBI RECEIVED THE ORIGINAL DPD DICTABELTS AND DISKS A FEW DAYS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION, AND THEN RETURNED ALTERED COPIES TO THE DPD.
- DPD transcript CE 705 shows Tippit's last attempted transmission at 1:08 PM. The FBI transcript, (CE 1974) prepared in August, 1964, does not list Tippit's attempted transmission at 1:08 PM, and instead lists transmissions from DPD officers using call numbers #55 and #488, but the officers using these numbers have never been identified.
- The original DPD transcript (CE 705) shows the report of Tippit's murder by Bowley at 1:10 PM. The FBI transcript, (CE 1974) prepared in August, 1964, lists the reporting time of Tippit's murder by Bowley at 1:19 PM--nine minutes later.
- Neither Sawyer exhibit "A" or "B" include instructions for Tippit to move into Central Oak Cliff. These instructions are also omitted on CE 705. CE 1974, created by the FBI in August, 1964, reports the dispatcher sending Nelson and Tippit to "Central Oak Cliff area," Tippit replies, "I'm at Kiesk and Bonnieview."
- On CE 1974 a patrolman said to the dispatcher "Would you check through Austin and get registration please on HS1877, down here at this shooting which took place in regards to the President." This information is omitted on CE 705.
- At 1:44 PM the FBI created transcrpt (CE1974) reads "Tape splice" (below). A "TAPE SPLICE" OR SPLICE OF ANY KIND CANNOT BE MADE TO A DICTABELT OR VINYL DISK. THIS NOTATION IS PROOF THAT DPD DISPATCH RECORDINGS ON THE ORIGINAL DPD DICTABELTS AND/OR VINYL DISKS WERE COPIED ONTO A TAPE RECORDER. THE TAPES OF DISPATCH RECORDINGS WERE THEN ALTERED BY REMOVING/CUTTING SENSITIVE PORTIONS OF THE TAPES AND THEN SPLICING PORTIONS TOGETHER ("TAPE SPLICE"). THE ALTERED TAPES WERE THEN PLAYED AND RECORDED ONTO A DICTABELT MACHINE, AND THE RESULTING DICTABELTS AND DISKS WERE RETURNED TO THE DPS.
These are only a few of the discrepancies that appear on Sawyer "A," Sawyer "B," CE 705 and CE 1974. The Warren Commission, well aware there was a nine minute difference in the time of the Tippit shooting, ignored the DPD transcript (CE 705) and instead relied on the FBI's transcript (CE 1974) that was created in August, 1964, only a month before the printing of the Warren Commission's Report. The FBI's transcript allowed enough time for Oswald to leave his rooming house at 1:01 PM and arrive at 10th & Patton at 1:16 PM and shoot Tippit.
With FBI documentation, and in particular the tape and disk recordings of the DPD dispatcher provided to the WC by the FBI, the Commission concluded, “the shooting of Tippit has been established at approximately 1:15 or 1:16 p.m.” Their conclusion as to the time of the shooting was based upon typewritten transcripts of DPD police logs provided by the Dallas Police.
Nineteen years later, in March, 1982, after the dictabelts had been examined by experts and found to have evidence of alteration, Dallas researcher Gary Mack interviewed Capt. Bowles of the Dallas Police. Bowles told Gary Mack that he could not give any assurance that the belts which were returned by the FBI were the ones which left the possession of the DPD. (Click here to read the complete article relating to the scientific analysis of the dictabelts.)
Warren Reynolds follows LEE Oswald
Warren Reynolds worked at a car lot on Jefferson Blvd, across the street from Ted Callaway's car lot (Dootch Motors). Reynolds heard shots and soon saw the shooter near the corner of Patton and Jefferson Blvd. Reynolds saw the shooter tuck a gun underneath his belt as he walked west on the north side of Jefferson Blvd (red line in aerial photo below). Reynolds began to follow the shooter, by walking parallel to him on the south side of Jefferson Blvd (orange line in aerial photo below). After walking one block west, past the Ballew Texaco Station, the shooter turned right and hurried into the car lot behind the station and then into the alley.
IMPORTANT: Jimmy Burt, who hurried to 10th & Patton after the shooting, saw the shooter as he walked south on Patton. Burt began to follow the shooter, and soon saw the man turn right and walk west on Jefferson Blvd. When Burt reached the alley he looked westward and saw the shooter in the alley.
Burt stood there and momentarily watched as the shooter walked westward in the alley toward Crawford St. Burt's observation is very important, as it indicates that the shooter was still wearing the light colored Eisenhower-type jacket AFTER he passed thru the parking lot and into the alley. The shooter had NOT discarded his jacket in the parking lot behind the Texaco station. The shooter was still wearing his jacket when Burt saw him walking in the alley toward Crawford St. It appears that LEE Oswald was wearing the jacket when Burt saw him in the alley and was still wearing the jacket when he got into police car #207, which was momentarily parked next to the church and driven by Capt. Westbrook. The next time LEE Oswald appeared was in the balcony of the Texas Theater, without a jacket.
Warren Reynolds crossed Jefferson Blvd and began walking thru the car lot but lost sight of the shooter (click here to see Warren Reynolds interview). I believe, and please understand there is no definitive proof, that after Tippit was shot Westbrook backed up car #207 into the alley (green line in aerial photo below) and soon met up with LEE Oswald (at the end of the red line in aerial photo below) somewhere near the alley and the Abundant Life Church behind the Texaco station.
LEE Oswald probably realized that someone was following him, and it was Warren Reynolds who was following him (follow the orange line). When LEE Oswald met up with Capt. Westbrook in car #207 he probably told Capt. Westbrook that someone was following him. To Capt. Westbrook this individual posed a very serious threat. It didn't matter whether Reynolds actually saw the shooter (LEE Oswald) get into a police car. It only mattered if Capt Westbrook or LEE Oswald thought he did, because Reynolds could then connect the man who shot Tippit with the Dallas Police. For Capt. Westbrook this was potentially a very serious problem. Westbrook soon learned the identity of this unknown man by reading police reports of interviews with witnesses. Once Westbrook had identified this troublesome witness, the problem could be solved. Could this be the reason Warren Reynolds was shot in the head two months later?
On January 22, 1964, FBI agents Kesler and Mitchem showed a photograph of Lee HARVEY Oswald to Reynolds, at which time Reynolds advised the two agents that he would hesitate to definitely identify the man shown in the photograph as the shooter.
The following day, at 9:00 PM, (January 23, 1964), Warren Reynolds was shot in the head with a .22 caliber rifle. The prime suspect was Darrell Wayne Garner and he was arrested. Betty (Mooney) MacDonald, a former stripper at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club, provided an alibi for Garner and he was released. Two weeks later, on February 13, 1964, MacDonald was arrested for disturbing the peace. The next morning she was found dead, hanging from the ceiling in the jail cell with her toreador trousers.
Reynolds, after being shot in the head, changed his mind and identified HARVEY Oswald as the shooter.
NOTE: Take a look at the aerial photo (above) that shows the position of the 2nd police car (car #207--Westbrook/Croy) and the location of the known witnesses to the Tippit shooting. There was only one witness to the shooting on 11/22/63, who was in a position to have seen Capt. Westbrook and the 2nd police car parked between the 2 houses and who was also known to the Dallas Police and the FBI--Domingo Benavides.
NOTE: Doris Holan was a 2nd witness who was in a position to have seen Westbrook and the 2nd police car, but she was never interviewed by the Dallas Police, nor the FBI, nor was she known to the Warren Commission.
Domingo Benavides posed a serious thread because he, like Warren Reynolds, could link two Dallas police officers and their squad car to the Tippit murder. In mid-February, 1964, Bendavides' brother, who looked very much like Domingo, was shot and killed. Domingo Benavides and Warren Reynolds had the potential to link Capt. Westbrook and Dallas Police squad car #207 with the murder of Officer Tippit, but not if they were eliminated.
On the day President Kennedy and Officer Tippit were killed many witnesses saw Oswald wearing a white shirt, while other witnesses saw Oswald wearing a brown shirt. This is very easy to explain. Just remember that HARVEY Oswald, wearing a long sleeve brown shirt in the TSBD lunchroom left Dealey Plaza on a city bus and taxi, changed his pants and t-shirt in his rooming house, and was arrested in the Texas Theater wearing a long sleeve brown shirt. LEE Oswald was wearing a white t-shirt when he left Dealey Plaza in a Rambler station wagon, wearing a white t-shirt when he shot Tippit, wearing a white t-shirt when was arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater, was wearing a white t-shirt when taken by police out the back of the theater, and was wearing a white t-shirt when seen by Mr. White sitting in a red Ford Falcon in the El Chico parking lot.
HARVEY Oswald brown shirt; LEE Oswald white shirt.
Westbrook meets up with LEE Oswald.
After Tippit was shot and killed Capt Westbrook left Sgt. Croy at the scene. Westbrook then backed squad car #207 into the alley, where the police car was seen by Sam Guinyard who worked for Dootch Motors. I believe that Westbropok likely drove to, or near, the Abundant Life Church behind the Texaco Station (follow the green line in photo above) where he met up with LEE Oswald. I believe that LEE Oswald gave Westbrook his wallet, his light colored jacket, and the .38 revolver used to kill Tippit. LEE Oswald was driven, by Westbrook, to the alley behind the Texas Theater. LEE Oswald then walked thru a narrow passageway to Jeffeson Blvd., turned right and walked to the ticket book where he bought a ticket from Julia Postal. He entered the lobby, but did not go into the concession area, and hurried up the stairs to the balcony. The movie was playing and Butch Burroughs, the ticket-taker and concessionaire, was likely working at the concession stand (behind the doors in the photo below and did not see Oswald enter the lobby or hurry up the stairs.
After driving LEE Oswald to the Texas Theater, Westbrook quickly drove police car #207 back to the Texas School Book Depository, arriving there around 1:15 PM. It was very important for Capt. Westbrook to be seen in and around the Book Depository before getting into his unmarked police car and driving to 10th & Patton.
We must remember that Westbrook first told the Warren Commission that he walked from police headquarters to the Book Depository. Later, when questioned about the Tippit murder, Westbrook told the Warren Commission that he heard about the shooting of a police officer on "his radio." Westbrook said "HIS RADIO," most likely the radio in Westbrook's dark blue, unmarked police car that I believe he drove from police headquarters to the Book Depository. Westbrook then told the Warren Commission that he "ran to my radio (my radio!!) because I am the personnel officer and that then became, of course, my greatest interest right at that time, and so, Sergeant Stringer and I and some patrolman---I don't recall his name---then drove to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit had been shot and killed." But No! Westbrook DID NOT drive to where Tippit was shot and killed. Westbrook drove his unmarked police car directly to the parking lot behind the Texaco station. Westbrook was lying to the Warren Commission--one lie after another.
Now Westbrook was telling the Commission that he ran to "MY RADIO," no doubt the radio in his unmarked police car. Westbrook said that he got into a police car and "an officer drove him to the immediate vicinity of where Tippit had been shot and killed." Another lie. Westbrook said, "I don't know where this officer went after he let us out at the scene. Another lie.
We must remember that Westbrook first told the Warren Commission that he walked from police headquarters to the Book Depository, which was a LIE. He told the WC there were no police cars to take him to Dealey Plaza (ANOTHER LIE), but he intentionally failed to tell the WC about his unmarked police vehicle that was parked in the basement. Westbrook's WC testimony, as we shall see, clearly shows that he drove his unmarked police car to Dealey Plaza. Westbrook told the WC that when he heard a police officer holler that an officer had been killed in Oak Cliff, he (Westbrook) "ran to his radio." Westbrook said "HIS RADIO," the radio in Westbrook's dark blue, unmarked police car that he drove from police headquarters to the Book Depository. Westbrook continued and said, "I ran to my radio because I am the personnel officer and that then became, of course, my greatest interest right at that time, and so, Sergeant Stringer and I and some patrolman---I don't recall his name---then drove to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit had been shot and killed...I don't know where this officer went after he let us out at the scene (THREE LIES)." Westbrook told the Commission, "Some patrolman drove him" to where Tippit had been shot and killed, but Westbrook drove his unmarked police car to Oak Cliff (LIE #1). Westbrook told the Commission that he was driven to the scene with Sgt. Stringer and "some patrolman," but Westbrook and Stringer were accompanied by Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell (read Jim Ewell's account here). Westbrook told the Commission that he was driven to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit had been shot and killed, but Westbrook drove his unmarked police car to Jefferson Blvd., to McCandles market, and then to the parking lot behind the Texaco station (LIE #3). Westbrook was lying to the Warren Commission--one lie after another.
It is important to remember that Westbrook told the Warren Commission, "I am personnel officer. We conduct all background investigations of applicants, both civilian and police, and then we make--we investigate all personnel complaints--not all of them, but the major ones." Why does a personnel officer, wearing civilian clothes and working at a desk job in an office at police headquarters, involve himself in a homicide investigation? Why was Westbrook at the TSBD? How was he able to find Oswald's jacket only minutes after arriving in Oak Cliff? Where did Westbrook get Lee Oswald's wallet (if not directly from Lee Oswald) which he showed to police officers at 10th & Patton? Why was the pistol taken from HARVEY Oswald at the theater taken to Westbrook's office instead of taken to Homicide and Robbery? Westbrook told the Warren Commission, "I am the personnel officer and that then became, of course, my greatest interest right at that time." But Westbrook's actions and whereabouts that afternoon show that he had very little interest in officer Tippit. Westbrook did not drive directly to the scene of the Tippit murder at 10th & Patton. Westbrook did not drive to the hospital where Tippit was taken by ambulance. Westbrook did not visit or telephone Tippit's wife later in the day. Westbrook's priority, and destination, was the parking lot behind the Ballew Texaco Station on East Jefferson--where the light colored jacket, given to him by LEE Oswald fifteen minutes earlier, was either "planted" or thrown underneath a 1954 Oldsmobile by Westbrook. Was there any reason, other than "finding the shooter's jacket," for Westbrook to drive from the Book Depository directly to the parking lot behind the Texaco Station?
After Westbrook arrived at the Texaco station news reporter Jim Ewell got out of the car and walked to McCandles Minute Market. He placed a telephone call to the "city desk" at the Dallas Morning News and told his employer that he was in Oak Cliff. As Ewell left the Minute Mart he saw Assistant D.A. William Alexander "with an automatic pistol stalking across the balcony of a two story boarding house that police were searching." Sgt. Stringer got out of the car and joined fellow officers in shaking down adjacent buildings looking for the suspect. Capt. Westbrook was then alone in his unmarked, dark blue police car and, in my opinion, drove about 50 feet past the Texaco station, turned right on Crawford St., and then drove about 150 feet to an alley where he again turned right. On the left side of the alley was the back side of the Abundant Life Church. On the right side of the alley was a long row of cars, parked side by side (see photo above). One of those cars was a 1954 Oldsmobile where the shooter’s jacket (LEE Oswald's jacket) was found, most likely thrown under the car ("planted") by Westbrook. It is no accident that Westbrook drove directly to the car lot behind the Texaco station, and then just happened to be in the exact place where the jacket was "found" less than one minute after he arrived. Was there any reason, other than "finding the shooter's jacket," for Westbrook to drive from the Book Depository directly to the parking lot behind the Texaco Station?
Motorcycle officer John R. Mackey was in the parking lot behind the Texaco station. Mackey said: "About the time we reached the area the dispatcher was broadcasting information regarding the suspect & his escape route. We pulled up on Jefferson & started checking some cars parked behind a service station to see if the suspect was hiding in or under one of the cars. That's when we found his jacket. We saw Captain Westbrook in his car on Jefferson so I turned the jacket over to him." Mackey said that he turned the jacket over to Capt. Westbrook. But when questioned by the Warren Commission Capt. Westbrook said that he could not remember the name of the officer who found the jacket. Westbrook told the WC, "…. I walked on towards the parking lot behind the Texaco service station, & some officer...said, 'Look! There's a jacket under the car.... So I walked over & reached under & picked up the jacket." Westbrook said that he picked up the jacket. While Westbrook's and Mackey's stories may differ, motorcycle patrolman Thomas Hutson had another version of finding the jacket. Hutson, who was about 25 yards away, told the HSCA that he saw Capt. Westbrook standing in the alley holding the jacket.
In 1978 researcher Larry Ray Harris interviewed John Mackey, who refused to discuss the jacket. Mackey told Harris, "that information might be something they--senior Dallas Police officials--don't want given out." I doubt that "senior Dallas Police officials" would care whether it was Westbrook or Mackey who "found" the jacket. However, "senior Dallas Police officials" would not want to give out any information that suggested Capt. Westbrook was somehow connected with finding the jacket.
Officer Hutson was questioned by the Warren Commission:
Mr. Belin. All right, now, prior to that time had there been any recovery of any items of clothing?
Mr. Hutson. Yes, sir.
Mr. Belin. When did that occur?
Mr. Hutson. That occurred while we were searching the rear of the house in the 400 block of East Jefferson Boulevard at the rear of the Texaco station.... I was approximately 25 yards away from the officer who picked it up.... Captain Westbrook was there behind the house with us, and he was there at the time this was picked up with the man, but I don't know who had it in their hands. The only time I saw it was when the officer had it.
When Capt. Westbrook was interviewed by the Warren Commission he not only repeatedly lied about his whereabouts and his activities on 11/22/63, he also intentionally tried to distance himself completely from Oswald's jacket. Prior to his testimony Westbrook wrote a "resume" of his activities which he provided to the WC, but there was no reference to finding the jacket, handling the jacket in the Texaco parking lot, or of Westbrook entering the jacket into evidence. During his testimony WC attorney Ball began to question him about finding and handling the jacket. Ball asked Westbrook, "When did this happen? You gave me a sort of a resume of what you had done, but you omitted this incident."
Westbrook told the Warren Commission "actually, I didn't find it--it was pointed out to me by either some officer....someone pointed out a jacket to me that was laying under a car and I got the jacket and told the officer to take the license number." Once again, Westbrook, the head of personnel, failed to identify the officer who discovered the jacket. Westbrook then told the Commission that he turned the jacket over to one of the officers, but once again he could not remember the name of this officer. Westbrook, in charge of personnel, could not remember the name a single police officer with whom he came in contact that afternoon. More lies from Westbrook.
If Westbrook was not involved with the jacket then why did he drive from the Book Depository directly to the large parking lot behind the Texaco station and, less than a minute later, just happened to be at the exact spot where the jacket was found. He should have driven directly to the scene of Tippit's murder, which is exactly what he told the Warren Commission.
At 1:25 PM, only one minute after finding the jacket, the police dispatcher received a call from police unit #279 that the suspect had "dumped it, the jacket, on this parking lot behind this service station at 400 block East Jefferson....he had a white jacket on. We believe this is it." The police dispatch logs show that "unit #279" reported finding the jacket, but the log does not identify the officer by name. Unit number 279 was used by two officers--J.T. Griffin and J.R. Mackey, but only Mackey was in the parking lot next to the Texaco station. And why would motorcycle patrolman John Mackey radio in such important information when Capt. Westbrook was with him? I believe the officer who identified himself to the dispatcher as unit #279 was not Mackey, but was Capt. Westbrook, who used Mackey's unit number when he called the dispatcher. Interested readers should listen to the DPD police dispatch recording of unit #279. The voice is that of a middle-age man (Westbrook?), not a young man (Mackey).
NOTE: Officer John Mackey supposedly found the jacket, along with Capt. Westbrook, but it was Westbrook who wrote and signed a police report entering the jacket into evidence. Why was Mackey never interviewed by the FBI, Secret Service, the Warren Commission, or the HSCA and asked about finding and identifying the suspects jacket? Because Mackey may have said that it was Westbrook who found the jacket.
Finding the jacket was important, but there was a bigger problem. Whose jacket was it? There was nothing to indicate this jacket belonged to the man who shot and killed Tippit. Capt. Westbrook needed a witness to connect the jacket to the shooter.
Nine minutes later, at 1:34 PM, Capt. Westbrook reported to the police dispatcher, "We've got a witness that seen him go north….after….shed his jacket." But Capt. Westbrook was once again lying. Westbrook never, ever had such a witness, but Westbrook desperately needed a witness to say that the jacket belonged to the man who matched the description of the shooter. Without a witness, there was no way to connect the jacket to the man who shot Tippit. Westbrook was the one and only police officer who said there was a witness that saw the suspect shed his jacket, but no such witness was ever identified or located. More lies from Capt. Westbrook, in order to cover up his involvement with finding/planting LEE Oswald's jacket.
Capt. Westbrook quickly left the parking lot and drove a few blocks east to the library, in response to a report that a suspicious man was seen entering the building. After Sgt. Owens reported it was the wrong man at the library Capt. Westbrook drove to the Tippit murder scene at 10th & Patton, allegedly for the first time, arriving about 1:37-1:38 PM. While at 10th & Patton Capt. Westbrook needed to be very careful. If Westbrook was the man seen by Mrs. Holan (a neighbor who lived directly across the street from the shooting) inspecting Tippit's body after he was shot and killed, then Westbrook's return to 10th & Patton had to be very brief. Otherwise, witnesses may have remembered his presence at 10th & Patton when Tippit was murdered.
But Capt. Westbrook had a very good reason for driving to 10th & Patton. It was there, at the murder scene, that Westbrook showed fellow police officers the wallet given to him a half hour earlier when he briefly met up with LEE Oswald. Identification in this wallet would identify "Lee Harvey Oswald" as the prime suspect in the murder of officer Tippit. Identification for "Alek Hidell," also found in this wallet, would link Oswald/Hidell to the rifle found on the 6th floor of the Book Depository. There were now many police and dozens and dozens of on-lookers at 10th & Patton with whom Westbrook could mingle. Fortunately, for Westbrook, nobody recognized him as the man who was with LEE Oswald when Tippit was shot and killed.
A few minutes later, at 1:42 PM, crime lab officers George Doughty, W.E. Barnes, and Paul Bentley arrived and inspected the wallet produced by Westbrook. FBI Agent Bob Barrett arrived, parked his car, and walked toward Tippit's patrol car. Barrett explained, "I went on over there and Captain Westbrook was there with several of his officers.... It hadn't been very long when Westbrook looked up and saw me and called me over. He had this wallet in his hand. Now, I don't know where he found it, but he had the wallet in his hand... the wallet was there. There's no getting around that. Westbrook had the wallet in his hand and asked me if I knew who these people were. I'm adamant that there was a wallet in somebody's hand and Westbrook asked me if I knew who 'Lee Harvey Oswald' was and who 'Hidell' were."
As Westbrook showed the wallet to Barrett and fellow DPD officers, WFAA-TV Channel 8 news photographer Ron Reiland filmed the wallet. Sgt. Bud Owens was holding the wallet while Capt. Doughty was looking at the wallet.
Westbrook's possession of the wallet at 10th & Patton shows that he knew LEE Oswald, and was involved with the pre-planned assassination of Officer Tippit and was instrumental in identifying HARVEY Oswald as the man who murdered Tippit. After Westbrook showed the 2nd Oswald wallet to fellow police officers, HARVEY Oswald was now the one and only suspect in the murder of Officer Tippit, and the same man who left the Book Depository soon after President Kennedy was shot.
The 2nd Oswald wallet is the best single piece of evidence that proves Westbrook was involved in both a conspiracy to murder Officer Tippit and a conspiracy to frame HARVEY Oswald for the murder of both President Kennedy and Officer Tippit. If for any reason HARVEY Oswald had not been found in the Texas Theater, a nationwide manhunt would have begun for the former "defector" to the Soviet Union, the "communist" supporter of Castro, and the man who ordered the rifle found on the 6th floor of the Book Depository. The 2nd Oswald wallet produced and shown by Cap. Westbrook was never taken to police headquarters, never entered into evidence, never initialed by any police officer, never turned over to the identification bureau or homicide department, and never mentioned in a police report or FBI report or discussed with the Warren Commission. This wallet, shown to police officers and FBI Agent Barrett for only a few minutes, was last seen in Capt. Westbrook's hands and then disappeared forever.
Both Both Capt. Westbrook and Sgt. Croy were interviewed by the WC, but neither man said anything about the 2nd wallet. In March, 1996 FBI agent James Hosty published his book, Assignment: Oswald. For the first time, Hosty described how Capt. Westbrook showed a wallet to fellow police officers at 10th & Patton that contained identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and Alex Hidell. Hosty's book contained photos of the wallet and FBI agent Barrett's first hand account of Westbrook asking him if he knew Lee Harvey Oswald or Alex Hidell. Hosty, however, was unable to explain how Westbrook acquired the wallet nor could he explain what Westbrook did with the wallet after leaving 10th & Patton. Capt. Westbrook never wrote a report about the wallet, never entered the wallet into evidence, was never interviewed by the FBI about the wallet, and never, ever, discussed the wallet with anyone. When JFK researchers first learned about the 2nd Oswald wallet, from Hosty's book in early 1996, they were desperate to interview Westbrook. They soon learned that only a few weeks before Hosty's book was released, Capt. Westbook died at age 78 of cancer on February 21, 1996. After learning of the death of Capt. Westbrook researcher Jones Harris arranged for an interview with the first police officer at 10th & Patton, Sgt. Kenneth Croy. For the first time Sgt. Croy was asked what he knew about the 2nd wallet, and told Harris that an "unknown witness" gave him gave the wallet, which he then gave to Westbrook. It should not surprise anyone to learn there is, and never has been, any evidence to support or verify Croy's claim. Not one witness, not one ambulance driver, not one neighbor, and not one bystander nor anyone else saw a wallet lying on the street, in Tippit's car or anywhere. Ted Calloway arrived before Tippit's body was loaded in the ambulance. Callaway said, "I'll tell you one thing, there was no billfold at that scene. If there was, there would have been too many people who would have seen it." Neither Westbrook, Croy, or anyone told the Warren Commission or the HSCA about the 2nd Oswald wallet that appeared, and then disappeared, at 10th & Patton. Thirty three years later, in 1996, the 2nd wallet was first introduced to the public by former FBI agent James Hosty. Because of their actions and involvement at 10th & Patton, we now know that Westbrook, Croy, and LEE Oswald conspired to murder Officer Tippit, and frame HARVEY Oswald for the crime.
CAPT. WESTBROOK RETURNS TO THE PARKING LOT
Westbrook was only at the Tippit murder scene for a few minutes. After showing identification in the wallet, which included identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and Alec Hidell, Westbrook reclaimed the wallet and drove one block to the parking lot behind the Texaco Station. Crime lab officers George Doughty and W.E. Barnes either accompanied or followed Westbrook one block south to the parking lot where they photographed a 1954 Oldsmobile under which the jacket was allegedly found.WFAA-TV (Channel 8) news photographer Ron Reiland may also have accompanied Westbrook to the parking lot where a brief film clip was made of a police officer holding the jacket.
At 1:44 PM, while Westbrook was in the parking lot next to the Texaco station, the police dispatcher reported, "Have information a suspect just went in the Texas Theater on West Jefferson ... supposed to be hiding in balcony" (17H418).
Westbrook told the Warren Commission that after hearing the dispatcher's report he was driven to the theater by yet another unknown police officer. Westbrook said, "Sergeant Stringer, I, and Agent Barrett got in another squad car, and I don't know what officer was driving this one, but then when we arrived and were approaching the theater, I directed the patrolman to turn down into the alley instead of going around to the front because I figured there would be a lot of cars at the front. There were two or three at the back. So, I and Barrett---Stringer went to another door, and I and Barrett---we stopped at the first one---we got out and walked to this first entrance that was nearest us, and as we walked into the door we met an employee of the theater." This was yet another of Westbrook's LIES.
Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell was in the parking lot with Westbrook when they heard the police dispatcher's broadcast. Ewell recalled, "They were discussing it [the jacket] when the report came in that a suspect had just gone into the Texas Theater. Immediately, Capt. Westbrook and Sergeant Stringer ran back to their car [Westbrook's unmarked squad car] which was across the street, and I ran to jump in the backseat. By that time, they were already turning out and accelerating. When I got in the backseat with the door still hanging open, I came out of the car hanging onto to the door. They slowed down long enough for me to get back in." Capt. Westbrook could say nothing to the WC about running to his car and driving to the Texas Theater, because he already told the WC that an unknown officer had driven him from 10th & Patton to the Texas Theater. Westbrook said, "when I left this scene, I turned this jacket over to one of the officers and I went by that church, I think, and I think that would be on 10th Street." But Capt. Westbrook was lying again. He did not give the jacket to one of the officers. He had crime lab personnel Barnes and Doughty initial the jacket for evidence, held onto the jacket, and then took the jacket to police headquarters. Westbrook wrote a police report about the jacket,and placed the jacket in evidence at 3:00 PM.
Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell described how Capt. Westbrook had driven his unmarked, dark blue police vehicle from the car lot and parked directly in front of the Texas Theater (see photo of Wesbrook's car below). Ewell said, "I went up these stairs into the balcony. I stepped to the railing where I could look down onto this. Then I saw the fight that broke out. Someone was trying to hold the barrel of a shotgun, or train the barrel of a shotgun down among the heads of these officers. I don't know what was going on, but this person was holding a shotgun; I did see that." The only Dallas police officer known to have a shotgun at the Tippit murder scene was Capt. Westbrook, which he admitted during his Warren Commission testimony.
As the police scuffled with HARVEY Oswald, Officer McDonald grabbed the .38 caliber revolver from Oswald's hand and passed it to Officer Bob Carroll. After Oswald was handcuffed, Capt. Westbrook ordered his officers to “cover his face” and “get him out of here." “Cover his face” because Westbrook knew that LEE Oswald was also in the theater. These two young men, HARVEY and LEE, looked very much alike, and it would be difficult to explain why both were in the Texas Theater at the same time.
Capt. Westbrook then told Lt. Cunningham to take the names and addresses of each and every person in the theater (Lt. Cunningham and J.B. Tony remained at the theater and took the names and addresses of each person). Lt. Cunningham and J.B. Tony likely obtained the names and addresses of 24 theater patrons. However, there was at least one young man who had no identification, and that was LEE Oswald, who had given his wallet to Capt. Westbrook. After completing the list Lt. Cunningham and Tony should have given the list of names to the officer in charge--Capt. Westbrook. But Capt. Westbrook told the Warren Commission that he didn't know what happened to the list. Westbrook said the list was lost. More lies from Westbrook, but necessary to hide the identity of of theater patrons in the balcony who saw and could describe the young man arrested in the balcony.
As HARVEY Oswald was taken out the front of the theater a DPD officer told Julia Postal, "we have our man on both counts." Julia said this was the first time she heard about Tippit's death and the officers arresting Oswald had identified him by calling his name-- "Oswald" (interview with Julia Postal by SA Carter 2/28/64). Thanks to Captain Westbrook, most of the police officers participating in Oswald's arrest already knew his name before entering the theater.
As previously mentioned Jones Harris, a long time assassination investigator, arrived in Dallas the day after the assassination. He interviewed Julia Postal in the office of the manager of the Texas Theater. Harris asked her, when she saw (HARVEY) Oswald being led out of the theater by the police, if she had sold him a ticket. Postal immediately burst into tears. Harris walked out of the office and returned a short time later. When Harris asked again if she sold (HARVEY) Oswald a ticket she again burst into tears. Butch Burroughs, interviewed by Texas researcher Jim Marrs, said that Julia Postal knows that she sold (HARVEY) Oswald a ticket. Burroughs collected movie tickets when patrons entered the theater. When Burroughs sold HARVEY Oswald popcorn, a few minutes after he entered the theater, he must have recognized (HARVEY) Oswald as a paying customer. Otherwise, Burroughs would have asked him if he bought a ticket.
HARVEY Oswald, wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, was brought out the front entrance of the Texas Theater and placed in Capt. Westbrook's dark blue, unmarked police car (see photo below).
News reporter Jim Ewell watched as the police brought HARVEY Oswald out the front of the theater. Ewell said, "The next thing I recall is that I was out on the street with the car that I arrived in [Westbrook's unmarked police car] between me and the officers bringing Oswald out of the theater as they kind of separated the crowd and made an aisle for him to come through to get to the car. I'd say that I was about ten to twelve feet away from Oswald at the time." After HARVEY Oswald was placed in the police car Jim Ewell said, "Oswald then took my place in the backseat of the same car that I arrived in--the car driven to the Texas Theater by Capt. Westbrook."
Capt Westbrook parked his dark blue, unmarked police car directly in front of the Texas Theater
Officer Bob Carrol drove, Gerry Hill was in the middle, and officer K.E. Lyons was on the far right. HARVEY Oswald was in the backseat, in the middle, with officer Paul Bentley on his right and C.T. Walker on his left. When Capt. Westbrook was interviewed by the WC he could say nothing about Oswald taken to police headquarters in his unmarked police car, because Westbrook had already said that he was driven to the theater by an unidentified officer. After HARVEY Oswald was placed into Westbrook's unmarked police car, and driven to police headquarters, he was now without a police car. From the police dispatch at 1:44 PM it had taken the Dallas police less than eight minutes to drive from 10th & Patton to the Texas Theater, arrest HARVEY Oswald, place him in Westbrook's unmarked police car, and leave for the police station at 1:52 PM.
By the time HARVEY Oswald was placed in the back seat of Capt. Westbrook's unmarked police car, Westbrook had been directly involved with two crucial pieces of evidence--the light colored jacket and the 2nd Oswald wallet. There was now only one remaining item that LEE Oswald gave to Westbrook after he shot and killed Tippit--the .38 caliber revolver. When Officer Bob Carrol got into Westbrook's unmarked police car he gave the .38 caliber revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald to Gerry Hill, who worked directly for Westbrook in the personnel office. I have wondered for years if Westbrook quietly told Gerry Hill to take this revolver directly to his (Westbrook's) office instead of turning the revolver over to Capt. Will Fritz in Homicide and Robbery. I will probably never know the answer, but when Hill arrived at police headquarters he walked past Homicide and Robbery, down the hall, and took the revolver straight to the personnel office and placed it on a desk next to Capt. Westbrook, where it remained for nearly an hour.
Here is a question for readers: Tippit was shot and killed with a .38 revolver. HARVEY Oswald was arrested with a .38 revolver. Is it possible that Capt. Westbrook provided nearly identical .38 revolvers of the same make and model to each man?
Something happened in the 2nd floor balcony.
LEE Oswald, wearing the white t-shirt, was arrested in the balcony of the theater. At the Texas Theater Deputy Sheriff Bill Courson hurried up the stairs to the balcony and later said that he was "reasonably satisfied in his own mind" that he met LEE Harvey Oswald coming down the front stairs. Lt. Cunningham and Detective J.B. Toney encountered the young man and began to question him. As Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers rushed up the stairs to the balcony, he saw the officers as they were questioning the young man. This young man (LEE Oswald) may have been stopped and questioned, because his clothing matched the most recent police description of the suspect wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants. A police report, prepared by Detective L.D. Stringfellow, states that Lee Harvey Oswald WAS arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater. What I have never understood is why Stringfellow was never asked by the Dallas Police Dept., the FBI, the Warren Commission, the HSCA, or anyone to explain his report about Lee Harvey Oswald arrested in the BALCONY. Why?
HOMICIDE REPORT: LEE OSWALD KILLED OFFICER TIPPIT
After HARVEY Oswald was taken out the front of the theater, Capt. Westbrook told Lt. Cunningham to take the names and addresses of all theater patrons, which would have included the name and address of the young man that he and Detective Toney had just questioned in the balcony. Not surprisingly, this list disappeared, along with the name of the young man arrested in the balcony and theater patrons who could have identified him.
Butch Burroughs, the theater concessionaire, said that he saw two different young men arrested in the Texas Theater. Burroughs saw HARVEY Oswald arrested in the lower section and then, "three or four minutes later," he watched as the Dallas police arrested "an Oswald lookalike." Burroughs added that the second man arrested "looked almost like Oswald, like he was his brother or something." The young man was handcuffed and escorted by police out the rear of the Texas Theater and into the alley. Capt. Westbrook was likely one of the police officers who escorted LEE Oswald, in handcuffs, out the rear of the theater? Very likely.
Bernard Haire, owner of a hobby shop two doors east of the theater, saw police escort a young man, in handcuffs, out the rear of the theater. Police put the young man into a squad car and drove away. For the next 25 years Mr. Haire thought he had seen the arrest of LEE Harvey Oswald. Bernard Haire and Butch Burroughs saw police take a young man (LEE Harvey Oswald) out the back of the theater. Who, if not Captain Westbrook, had reason to escort LEE Oswald out of the back of the theater? And who at the Texas theater, if not Capt. Westbrook, had the authority to quickly release this young man and make sure that no police report was filed? Who, if not Capt. Westbrook? After the young man was taken out the rear of the theater Bernard Haire saw him placed into a squad car. As the senior police officer at the Texas Theater Capt. Westbrook could have explained to fellow officers that the suspect in the murder of Officer Tippit had been arrested and was being driven to police headquarters. The man taken out the back of the theater had been arrested by mistake, and was to be released. To avoid public criticism for arresting and handcuffing the wrong man, Westbrook may have simply told fellow police officers to forget about this incident. Not surprisingly there is not a single police report relating to a suspect, or anyone, escorted by police out the rear of the Texas Theater, just like there is no report of the 2nd Oswald wallet displayed by Capt. Westbrook to fellow police officers at 10th & Patton.
The young man in handcuffs was driven away, but was not taken to the police station. Where did he go? Who was driving this car? The young man (LEE Oswald) may have been driven to or near the El Chico parking lot 6 blocks north of the theater, where a red Ford Falcon was waiting. Around 2:03 PM Capt Westbrook and Sergeant Stringer got into a police car, allegedly driven by patrolman Roy L. Gross, and Westbrook notified the dispatcher, "Notify my office, I'm en route, will you ?" A few minutes later Westbrook arrived at police headquarters.
Across the street from the El Chico parking lot was Mack Pate's garage, where T. F. White, a career auto mechanic, was listening to the news and to the many police sirens. White soon noticed a young man sitting in a red Ford Falcon, with the engine running, across the street in the El Chico parking lot. After watching the car for a while, Mr. White walked across the street and from about 10-15 feet got a good look at the driver before the car raced out of the parking lot. Mr. White wrote down the Texas license plate number of the car: PP4537. After seeing Oswald's picture on television later that afternoon, Mr. White realized the man he saw in the car was Lee Harvey Oswald. But what Mr. White did not realize was that when he saw LEE Oswald sitting in the red Ford Falcon, the man he had seen on television (HARVEY Oswald) was sitting in jail at police headquarters. The license plate on the car was not registered to a red Ford Falcon. The license plate was registered to a 1957 blue Plymouth that belonged to Carl Mather, a very close friend of Officer Tippit, the man who LEE Oswald had shot and killed only an hour earlier. The TDPS (Texas Dept of Publc Safety) provides two license plates for each vehicle--one for the front and one for the back side of a vehicle. Someone removed one, or perhaps both, of the license plate(s) from Carl Mather's 1957 Plymouth and put at least one of those plates on the back side the red Ford Falcon driven by LEE Oswald and seen in the El Chico parking lot by Mr. White. Who this person was and their reason for removing the license plate(s) from a vehicle owned by a close friend of Officer Tippit remains unknown.
On 12/4/63 Wes Wise (future mayor of Dallas) was giving a talk at the Exchange Club in Oak Cliff. Auto repair shop owner Mac Pate was in the audience and later told Wise that LEE Harvey Oswald was seen sitting in a red 1961 Ford Falcon across the street from his auto repair shop around 2:00 PM on 11/22/63. Wise then met with Pate, mechanic T.F. White, contacted the Texas Dept of Public Safety, and was interviewed by the FBI--all on the same day (click here for details).
Around 2:15 PM Sgt. Hill, assigned to the personnel office, brought the .38 revolver, taken from HARVEY Oswald at the theater, to Capt. Westbrook's office on the third floor of the Dallas Police Department. This gun should have been taken immediately to Capt. Fritz in Homicide and Robbery, but instead Hill brought the gun to the personnel office. But why?
This .38 revolver, taken from HARVEY Oswald at the theater, remained in Capt. Westbrook's personnel office for the next hour. I believe that Westbrook secretly switched this weapon with the .38 revolver used to murder Tippit (given to him by LEE Oswald). One hour later the .38 revolver used to murder Tippit was initialed by police officers in Westbrook's office, entered into evidence, and turned over to the FBI later that evening.
The .38 revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald and brought to Westbrook's office by Sgt. Hill disappeared, and was never seen again, just like the 2nd Oswald wallet--thanks to Capt. Westbrook.
After Oswald arrived at police headquarters he was placed in a small room. Capt. Fritz, who would soon question the suspect, was told by a fellow police officer that (HARVEY) Oswald resided in a rooming house on Beckley. Capt. Fritz told the Warren Commission, "When I started to talk to this prisoner or maybe just before I started to talk to him, some officer told me outside of my office that he had a room on Beckley, I don't know who that officer was.... Commission Attorney Joseph Ball asked Fritz, "Some officer told you that he thought this man had a room on Beckley?" Fritz answered, "Yes, sir."
Capt. Fritz had a reputation for being able to remember minute details of investigations that occurred years earlier. Yet Fritz told the WC that he could not remember the name of the officer who told him the address of the man accused of killing President Kennedy and murdering Officer Tippit! I have no doubt this unidentified officer was Capt. Westbrook. If not Westbrook, then who in the Dallas Police Dept. would have any reason to know that HARVEY Oswald had a room on Beckley? If Capt Westbrook drove police car #207 past 1026 N. Beckley an hour earlier, and honked the horn, then Westbrook knew the address of Oswald's rooming house, which he gave to Capt. Fritz. Fritz conveniently "forgot" the name of the officer who told him about Oswald's rooming house on N. Beckley, and I have little doubt that he was simply "covering" for a fellow police Captain.
Capt. Fritz then began to question HARVEY Oswald, and asked about his address at 2515 W. 5th in Irving. Oswald explained to Fritz that his wife and children lived in Irving, but he had a room at 1026 Beckley. After further discussion Fritz soon realized that the address was on "North" Beckley--instead of "South" Beckley. Fritz then stepped outside the room and instructed officers Senkel, Potts, and Cunningham to go to 1026 N. Beckley.
Mrs. A.C. Johnson, the owner of 1026 N. Beckley, her husband Arthur Carl Johnson, and housekeeper Earlene Roberts were interviewed by the Warren Commission. These people all testified that three plainclothes officers arrived between 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM, and were joined shortly thereafter by two FBI agents. Mr. Johnson said the police arrived "around 1:30 or 2 o'clock." Mrs. Johnson said they arrived at "1:30 or 2, something like that." Earlene Roberts said, "Mrs. Johnson told me, 'Go get your keys and let them see in.' I had gone to the back and they still had the TV on, and they was broadcasting about Kennedy. Just as I unlocked the doors Fritz' men, two of them had walked in and she come running in and said, 'Oh, Roberts, come here quick. This is this fellow Lee in this little room next to yours,' and they flashed him on television, is how come us to know." HARVEY Oswald's photo appeared on television for the first time at 2:20 PM, just as Capt Fritz was beginning to question Oswald. Mrs. Roberts let the police and two FBI agents into the room occupied by Oswald, and said they took everything in the room, including a pillow case and two towels and wash cloths. According to the Johnsons and Earline Roberts the police arrived within minutes of Oswald's arrest, and then searched his room and removed evidence prior to securing a search warrant.
Around 3:15 PM Capt. Fritz sent Detective Baker to Capt. Westbrook's personnel office to pick up the .38 caliber revolver taken to Westbrook's office by Sgt. Gerry Hill, and bring it to Homicide and Robbery. We must now remember that after shooting Tippit at 10th & Patton, LEE Oswald met up with Capt. Westbrook and gave him the .38 revolver that he used to kill Tippit (circa 1:06 PM). After arriving at police headquarters, shortly after 2:00 PM, Westbrook brought this gun to his office where it laid on Detective McGee's desk for the next hour. There were now two .38 caliber revolvers in Westbrook's office--the murder weapon (location known only to Westbrook) and the gun taken from Oswald at the Texas Theater that was placed on McGee's desk in Westbrook's office. I believe, but cannot prove, that Westbrook switched these revolvers. The gun taken from Oswald at the theater disappeared, while the gun used to kill Tippit would soon be initialed by DPD officers and placed in evidence.
Before surrendering the gun to Det. Baker, officers McDonald, Bentley, Carroll, and Hill initialed the .38 revolver (see above). THE GUN PICKED UP BY DET. BAKER AND ENTERED INTO EVIDENCE was now the gun that was used to murder Tippit. The gun taken from HARVEY Oswald at the Texas Theater, which never fired a shot on 11/22/63, disappeared and was never seen again. Det. Baker took possession of the .38 revolver and 6 rounds of live ammunition (3 Western .38 Special & 3 Remington-Peters .38 Special) and then returned to Homicide and Robbery.
Capt. Will Fritz, in charge of Homicide and Robbery, then asked traffic Officer R.A. Davenport to take the gun and 3 live shells to Capt. Dougherty in the identification bureau. This revolver, serial #510210, was then turned over to FBI agent Vincent Drain at 11:05 PM, and immediately taken to FBI headquarters in Washington, DC.
On 11/22/63 Sgt. Gerry Hill, a former television news reporter, was working for Capt. Westbrook in the personnel department. A couple of hours after HARVEY Oswald's arrest, Hill was interviewed by reporters on camera. He appeared on television and began talking about Oswald's "defection" and his life in the Soviet Union. When the reporter asked Hill how he knew about Oswald's activities in the Soviet Union, Hill said “Westbrook told me!” It is obvious that on the day President Kennedy and Officer Tippit were murdered Captain Westbrook knew far too much about HARVEY Oswald.
Capt. Westbrook is interviewed by the Warren Commission
On April 6, 1964 Capt. Westbrook was interviewed by the Warren commission. Prior to the interview the Commission asked Westbrook to provide a resume relating to his involvement with the Tippit shooting. Westbrook prepared a resume, but left out, omitted, and lied about many important details. One of the most important details was Westbrook's involvement relating to the suspect's light colored jacket. Westbrook failed to mention anything about finding the suspect's jacket. Commission attorney Joseph Ball soon began to realize that Westbrook had omitted important details and made several false statements in his self-prepared resume. Ball said to Westbrook, "You gave me a sort of a resume of what you had done, but you omitted this incident (finding the jacket). When did this happen? Westbrook explained that the jacket was "found" in the parking lot behind the Texaco station, but he could not remember the name of the officer who picked up the jacket. Later, Westbrook said that he picked up the jacket. Westbrook said that he "turned this jacket over to one of the officers" but could not remember the name of the officer. Westbrook told the Commission that he didn't have a police car that day and he rode with another officer, name not recalled, from the Book Depository to the Tippit murder scene. This was a lie. The truth is that Westbrook drove his dark blue, unmarked police car from the Book Depository to the Ballew Texaco Station on Jefferson Blvd, and not to the Tippit murder scene. And Westbrook did not ride with another officer--this was another lie. The truth is that Westbrook drove his unmarked police car and was accompanied by Sgt. Stringer and Dallas Morning news reporter Jim Ewell. Westbrook said that he rode in a car driven by FBI agent Bob Barrett from 10th & Patton to the Texas Theater, which was another lie. The truth is that Westbrook drove his unmarked police police car from the Texaco parking lot to the Texas Theater and was accompanied by Sgt. Stringer and news reporter Jim Ewell. Westbrook, however, told the Commission that he arrived in the alley behind the theater in a police car driven by an officer whose name he cannot remember--another lie. The truth is that Westbrook parked his unmarked police car directly in front of the theater. Westbrook told the Commission that after Oswald was arrested he went to the back of the theater--another lie. The truth is that Westbrook went out the front of the theater behind the officers who took HARVEY Oswald to Westbrook's unmarked, dark blue police car.
At 10th & Patton Westbrook showed a wallet to fellow police officers and to FBI agent Robert Barrett that contained identification for "Lee Harvey Oswald" and "Alek Hidell." This wallet was the most important piece of evidence in the Tippit murder, yet Westbrook could not, and did not, say anything about a 2nd wallet to the Warren Commission. Capt Westbrook did everything he could to distance himself from the jacket, the wallet, and his involvement in the murder of Officer Tippit.
The lies and factual omissions in Capt. Westbrook's testimony are obvious:
1) they disguise Westbrook's whereabouts and activities from 12:35 to 1:15 PM on 11/22/63;
2) they hide Westbrook's direct involvement in Tippit's murder at 10th & Patton;
3) they omit Westbrook's role in linking the jacket to HARVEY Oswald as Tippit's assailant;
4) they hide Westbrook's involvement in the probable disappearance of the list of witnesses at the Texas Theater and, most important, the identity of the young man arrested and taken out the back of the Texas Theater;
5) they hide the fact that Westbrook was the only person who likely had personal possession of the 3 most important items of evidence in the Tippit shooting--the 2nd Oswald wallet, the jacket, and the revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald.
6) they omit any reference to a 2nd Oswald arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater and the identity of police officers who escorted him out the back of the theater.
7) they hide Westbrook's detailed knowledge about HARVEY Oswald's background and how Westbrook knew where HARVEY Oswald was living on 11/22/63
8) they hide Westbrook's involvement in the arrest of LEE Oswald, who was taken out the back of the theater after HARVEY Oswald was arrested and taken out the front of the theater.
And let's not forget that following the assassination of President Kennedy, Capt. Westbrook relocated to South Vietnam, where he worked as an advisor to the Saigon Police Dept. courtesy of the CIA.
Reserve officer Sgt. Kenneth Croy is interviewed by the Warren Commission
Capt. Westbrook was in charge of the Training and Research Section of the Dallas Police Dept., which included the police academy, recruit classes, and reserve officers. Curiously, and without explanation, reserve officer Sgt. Kenneth Croy was not listed anywhere on the police roster given to the Warren Commission.
Croy was probably one of the policemen who searched Cecil McWatters’ bus shortly after HARVEY Oswald left the bus to look for a taxi. Croy was most likely the uniformed officer sitting in the passenger seat of police car #207 when Earlene Roberts saw this car drive past Oswald's rooming house and honk the horn around 1:00 PM. Croy witnessed the murder of Officer Tippit. He was the first officer at the scene of the Tippit shooting, seen by Virginia Davis moments after Tippit was shot. Croy, who rode with Westbrook to 10th & Patton, may have driven LEE Oswald from the alley behind the theater to the El Chico parking lot.
In my opinion, however, Westbrook and Croy's involvement with Tippit's murder did not end on November 22. I read Croy's Warren Commission testimony and was somewhat shocked at what I read. Few questions were asked of Croy about his presence at the Tippit murder. Most of the questions related directly to Croy's presence and his activities in the basement of the Dallas Police station on 11/24/63, when HARVEY Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. Croy told the Warren Commission that he was standing next to Ruby in the basement, and tried to stop him when Ruby suddenly lunged toward Oswald and shot him. Curiously, Croy's name is not listed as one of the officers near the scene of the shooting when Ruby shot Oswald.
After reading Croy's testimony, I am convinced that Croy was most likely the person who allowed Ruby to gain entrance to the basement so that he could kill HARVEY Oswald. Please, I urge everyone to read Croy's Warren Commission testimony and draw your own conclusions.
NOTE: following the shooting of HARVEY Oswald by Jack Ruby, Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry assembled a special squad of detectives to investigate the murder of Oswald. Their assignment was to determine if Ruby had advance knowledge of the time of Oswald's transfer, which would strongly suggest there was a plot to murder Oswald that involved someone within the Dallas Police Department. The senior officer in this "special squad" was Capt. Westbrook, who told the HSCA "our most significant achievement was demonstrating beyond a doubt Ruby couldn't have had advance notice of LHO's transfer time." (Click here to read the HSCA report.) I speculate that Capt. Westbrook told Ruby the time of Oswald's transfer, while Sgt. Croy waited for Ruby to arrive and then stood next to Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Department when Ruby shot and killed HARVEY Oswald.
Today, more than 50 years after President Kennedy and J.D. Tippit were murdered, we can look back and begin to understand more and more about Capt. Westbrook and Sgt. Croy's involvement in the Tippit murder and the murder of HARVEY Oswald. Westbrook and Croy were most likely the two unidentified officers that boarded McWatters’ bus, but did not find HARVEY Oswald. Westbrook and Croy needed to find Oswald, so they commandeered police car #207 at the Book Depository and then drove past Oswald's rooming house and honked the horn. Westbrook and Croy likely met up with HARVEY Oswald near the corner of Beckley and Zang and then drove HARVEY Oswald to the theater where he arrived between 1:05-1:07 PM. Westbrook and Croy then drove thru the alley, turned left onto a small driveway and parked between houses located at 404 and 410 E. 10th St. While sitting in car #207 they saw Tippit get out of his squad car and witnessed LEE Oswald murder Tippit. After the shooting Croy remained at 10th & Patton, while Westbrook left the scene in car #207 and likely met up with LEE Oswald near the Abundant Life Church. While en route to the Texas Theater, LEE Oswald gave Westbrook his jacket, his wallet, and the .38 revolver used to shoot and kill Tippit. Westbrook quickly returned with car #207 to the Book Depository.
When Westbrook heard that an officer had been shot and killed in Oak Cliff he drove his unmarked squad car, with passengers Sgt. Stringer and Jim Ewell, from the Book Depository to Jefferson Blvd. After Stringer and Ewell got out of the car, Capt. Westbrook likely planted LEE Oswald's jacket in parking lot behind the Texaco station. Westbrook then drove one block to 10th & Patton for the express purpose of showing LEE Oswald's wallet to fellow police officers and FBI agent Robert Barrett.
Westbrook was the first police officer to arrive at the Texas Theater and was directly involved with the arrest of HARVEY Oswald. Police officers escorted Oswald out the front of the theater and placed him in Westbrook's unmarked squad car, almost certainly under Westbrook's direction. Westbrook then likely escorted LEE Oswald out the back of the Texas Theater. Before he left the theater, Westbrook told Lt. Cunningham to identify and make a list all theater patrons. This list was almost certainly given to Westbrook, but this list conveniently disappeared. Westbrook quickly returned to DPD headquarters and was probably the officer who told Capt. Fritz that HARVEY Oswald had a room on Beckley St.
Sgt. Gerry Hill, who worked for Westbrook, had possession of the .38 revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald in the theater and took the gun to police headquarters. This gun should have been taken directly to Homicide and Robbery. But Sgt. Hill took the gun to Capt. Westbrook's office. Why? Did Westbrook tell Hill to take the gun to his office, or was it Hill's decision to take the gun to Westbrook's office. The .38 revolver, taken from HARVEY Oswald at the Texas Theater, remained in Westbrook's office for the next hour. I believe that Westbrook switched the gun taken from HARVEY Oswald with the gun used to kill Tippit, which was given to him by LEE Oswald. The murder weapon was then initialed by DPD officers and then turned over to Homicide and Robbery.
Westbrook's knowledge of HARVEY Oswald's life in the Soviet Union, which he described to Gerry Hill, has never been explained. Westbrook and Croy were both in the basement of the police station when Ruby shot and killed HARVEY Oswald. Westbrook's many lies and omissions to the Warren Commission helped to cover-up his direct involvement with the Tippit murder.
Following the assassination of President Kennedy, Westbrook relocated to South Vietnam where he was a CIA-sponsored advisor to the Saigon Police Dept. Now we finally realize and understand that Westbrook was working for the CIA, the agency in which rogue hi-level individuals such as David Atlee Phillips, E. Howard Hunt, and likely Allen Dulles planned and carried out the assassination of President Kennedy. There is no doubt, at least in my mind, that Capt. Westbrook, and to a lesser degree Sgt. Croy, were deeply involved as co-conspirators. The one important, unanswered question is the identity of Westbrook's CIA contact and co-conspirator.
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