THE PRE-ARRANGED
MURDER OF OFFICER J.D. TIPPIT
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 hurried to
the Texas Theater and hid in the balcony. A wallet that contained
identification for both Lee Harvey Oswald and Alek Hidell suddenly
appeared in the hands of a Dallas Police Captain at the scene of the
murder, and then disappeared 10 minutes later and was never seen again.
J.D.
Tippit at the Gloco station
As Whaley drove south on Zang Blvd. his taxi passed by
Officer J.D. Tippit, who was observed by 5 witnesses sitting in his
patrol car at the GLOCO station (1502 N. Zang Blvd) watching traffic.
Tippit knew both HARVEY and LEE and his assignment that day may have
been to drive both young men to the Texas Theater. Whaley turned left
on N. Beckley and stopped in the 700 block near Neeley Street about
12:54 PM. HARVEY Oswald got out of the taxi and began walking to his
rooming house about three and a half blocks away. He arrived just
before 1:00 PM and spent a few minutes changing his pants and work
shirt (t-shirt) in his room.
Tippit, sitting in his patrol car at the
GLOCO station, may have been waiting for Oswald to get off of McWatters
bus across the street at the bus stop. But when the bus failed to
arrive Tippit became alarmed and quickly left the GLOCO station. A
minute or two later, at 12:54 PM, Tippit reported his position as
Lancaster and 8th. He then turned right on Jefferson Blvd and drove two
miles (3-4 minutes) to the Top Ten Record Store. Tippit parked his
patrol car, entered the store, and asked store clerk Louis Cortinas for
permission to make a phone call. Tippit said nothing during the call,
hung up the phone, hurried out to his car, and drove north across
Jefferson Blvd. (circa 1:00 PM). A few minutes later it was most likely
Tippit in his patrol car who drove slowly past HARVEY Oswald's rooming
house at 1026 N. Beckley. If this
black police car was not Tippit's
then who's car was it?
Oswald
was in his small room (at right) changing clothes and probably heard
Tippit as he honked the horn in his patrol car before driving around
the corner of Beckley and Zang (circa 1:03). Out of the thousands of houses in Oak
Cliff, why would a police car slowly drive past Oswald's rooming house
and honk the horn only minutes after he (Oswald) arrived?
Oswald left the rooming house wearing the dark brown long-sleeve shirtand
white t-shirt, and was last seen by his landlady standing at the
corner of Beckley & Zang (circa 1:03-1:04 PM). HARVEY Oswald
probably got into the police car and was likely given a .38 pistol,
with a defective firing pin, by Tippit. Two or three minutes later
Tippit drove into the alley behind the Texas Theater at 231 W.
Jefferson (1.2 miles-1:05-1:07 PM). HARVEY got out of the patrol car
and walked, sight unseen, through the narrow passageway adjacent to the
theater and emerged on Jefferson Blvd only a few yards from theater
cashier Julia Postal. HARVEY Oswald,
wearing a long-sleeve brown
shirt, purchased a ticket from Julia Postal and walked into the
theater (circa 1:07-1:08 PM). Concession attendant Butch
Burroughs said that Oswald arrived between 1:00 PM and 1:07 PM (Officer
Tippit was shot around 1:15 PM, according to the Warren Commission).
After dropping HARVEY Oswald off at the theater Tippit drove .7 mile
east of the theater and arrived at 10th & Patton (circa 1:07-1:08
PM).
BACK AT THE BOOK DEPOSITORY, LEE OSWALD
LEAVES
DEALEY PLAZA WEARING A WHITE T-SHIRT.
After shots were fired at President Kennedy, LEE Oswald walked through
the office of the Book Depository and was seen by Mrs. Reid carrying a
coke and wearing a white
t-shirt.
As he left the building three woman who worked across the street in the
Dal-Tex Building saw Jack Ruby give him a pistol. LEE then walked west
on the Elm Street extension in front of the TSBD and waited. At 12:40
PM a light
colored Nash Rambler station wagon, with a chrome luggage rack, pulled
over to the curb and stopped. Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig heard a shrill
whistle, which attracted his attention, and watched as a young man
wearing a white t-shirt walked over to the car and got in. Craig
identified the man as (LEE) Harvey Oswald. Marvin Robinson was driving
his Cadillac directly behind the Nash Rambler when it suddenly stopped.
Robinson saw a white male hurry over to the car and get in. Robinson's
employee, Roy Cooper, was following him in a different vehicle and also
saw the man hurry over and get into the car. Both men told the FBI the
man who got into the Nash Rambler was (LEE) Harvey Oswald, but neither
man was interviewed by the WC. Helen Forrest saw the same man run
toward the Nash Rambler and get in. She said, "If it wasn't Oswald, it was his
identical twin." Helen Forrest was never interviewed by the WC
nor was her statement published in the WC volumes. The Nash Rambler was
last seen driving under the triple overpass with LEE Oswald, who may
have been told by his handlers to meet DPD Officer JD Tippit at Ruby's
apartment, or at his (LEE Oswald's) apartment at 507 E. 10th or
somewhere along 10th St. After getting into the Nash Rambler, but
before meeting up with Officer Tippit near 10th & Patton, LEE
Oswald acquired a light colored medium-size jacket
which he wore over his white t-shirt.
LEE Oswald on East 10th St. in Oak Cliff
About 1:03 PM LEE Oswald was seen by
several witnesses in the Oak Cliff suburb of Dallas walking west near
the corner of 10th St. & Marsalis--over
a mile away from HARVEY Oswald's rooming house. LEE Oswald was
only three blocks north of Jack Ruby's apartment (223 S. Ewing), where
he had been seen the night before by a guest of Ruby's next door
neighbor (Helen McIntosh). Four blocks from Ruby's apartment was a
small, single story house at 511 E. 10th that was owned by attorney
Dick Loomis, Sr., and his wife. Mrs. Loomis was a housewife and
President of the Oak Cliff Fine Arts Club. She told FBI agents Griffin
and Carter that a young couple, who were identical to LEE Harvey and
Marina Oswald, lived next door in an apartment complex at 507 E. 10th
(13 apartments) about one week before the assassination. She saw Marina
and her infant child in front of her home and recalled that Marina had
jet black hair. She said Marina wore very plain clothing and on one
occasion wore a light blouse and plaid skirt and on another occasion a
dark blouse and the same plaid skirt. She once saw a heavy-set man
visit the apartment next door and presumed it was Ruby. FBI agent James
Hosty, who never met Oswald face-to-face prior to November 22, 1963,
told fellow FBI agent Carver Gayton that he left notes under Oswald's
apartment door. But the Warren Commission reported that Oswald lived
either at his rooming house (1026 N. Beckley) or at Ruth Paine's house
in Irving, TX, neither of
which was an apartment. Hosty could have left notes under the
door at several of LEE Oswald's previous apartments including 507 E.
10th, 1106 Diceman Avenue, or an apartment in Oak Lawn that Ruby rented
for Oswald (according to DPD informant T-1).
Mr. Clark worked as a barber at the 10th Street Barber Shop, 620 E.
10th, two blocks north of Jack Ruby's apartment. Clark told FBI agent
Carl Underhill (11/29/63) that he "had seen a man whom he would bet his
life on was Oswald passing the shop in a great hurry and had commented
on same to a customer in the chair." (SEE MAP) Construction worker
William Lawrence Smith was walking east toward the Town and Country
Cafe (604 E 10th) for lunch shortly after 1:00 PM. Smith "felt sure
that the man who walked by him going west on 10th St. was LEE Harvey
Oswald" (interview of Smith by SA Brookhart 1/13/64). Jimmy Burt, 505
E. 10th, was across the street from the construction site where Smith
was working and watched the same man as he continued walking west. Burt
described the man (LEE Oswald) as a white male, approximately 5'8",
wearing a light short jacket (interview of Burt by SA Christianson and
Acklin 12/16/63). William Arthur Smith was with Burt at the time and
described the same man as "a white male, about 5'7" to 5'8", 20 to 25
years of age, 150-160, wearing a white shirt, light brown jacket and
dark pants (interview of Smith by SA Ward and Basham 12/13/63). Both
Burt and Smith watched this unknown man as he continued walking toward
10th & Patton, and saw him walk over to a black police squad car
and begin speaking with the officer (circa 1:08 PM). After the
assassination, both men were shown (HARVEY) Oswald's photograph and
both men said this was not the man who shot Tippit.
As LEE Oswald began talking with Tippit
near 10th & Patton, "HARVEY Oswald" was .7 mile west inside the
Texas Theater (Click
here to see YouTube interview with Burroughs.)
HARVEY purchased popcorn
from Burroughs at 1:15 PM and then walked into the lower level and took a seat
next to a pregnant woman. Within a few minutes both Oswald and the
woman got up from their seats. 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. Davis 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.
While HARVEY Oswald was sitting in the darkened Texas Theater, Tippit
was talking with LEE Oswald--the same man Tippit saw at the Dobbs
Restaurant two days earlier. Tippit had already driven HARVEY Oswald to
the Texas Theater, and his next assignment may have been to drive LEE
Oswald to the theater or perhaps to another location. Tippit and LEE
Oswald may have discussed this during their brief, "friendly"
conversation through the passenger side car window. But events that
soon followed suggest that LEE Oswald's pre-arranged assignment was to
kill Tippit (which he did by intentionally shooting him in the head),
frame HARVEY for the murder (the wallet held by Capt. Westbrook at the
murder scene--a wallet that contained identification for Lee Harvey
Oswald), and draw police to the Texas Theater (which he did by running
into the theater without purchasing a ticket). Tippit was one of the few people who knew
and came in contact with both HARVEY and LEE on November 22, knew where
they lived, and therefore had to be eliminated.
Jack Roy Tatum was driving east on 10th St. As he approached the squad
car, Tatum noticed 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." Tatum said, "he had on a light colored
zipper jacket, dark trousers and what looked like a t-shirt on." Tatum
later told HSCA investigator Moriarty that he did not see Oswald
wearing a brown shirt,
just a white t-shirt.
He also remembered Oswald "as having dark hair, dark eyes of medium
build and around 5'10." At the point where Tatum drove slowly past
Tippit's squad car, he was less than 10 ft from Oswald.
After talking briefly with LEE Oswald through the rolled-down window,
Tippit got out of his patrol car. As he began walking toward the
front of the patrol car LEE Oswald pulled his pistol and began shooting
Tippit. After Tippit fell to the ground LEE Oswald walked toward
him and deliberately shot him in the head (around 1:08-1:09 PM). Jack
Tatum said, "whoever shot Tippit was determined that he shouldn't live
and he was determined to finish the job." Tippit had to be eliminated,
because he was one of the few people who knew both HARVEY and LEE.
After shooting Tippit, LEE Oswald began walking south on Patton toward
Jefferson Blvd. while removing the empty shells from his gun and
tossing them on the ground. Domingo Benavides, who was sitting in his
truck on the opposite side of the street facing Tippit's car, watched
Oswald as he left the scene. He remembered, "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.
Witness
Helen Markham told the WC that
Oswald was "wearing a light gray looking jacket and kind of dark
trousers" and said the shooting occurred at 1:06 PM. T.F. Bowley was
driving west on 10th Street and did not see the shooting. He arrived at
the scene and used the police radio to report the shooting. Bowley
looked at his watch--the time was 1:10 PM (CE 2003). An original DPD
police transcript, found in the National Archives, lists the time of
transmission as 1:10 PM. (Image at left shows Tippit's car at the
murder scene. The white car on the left side of the photo is at the
approximate location of Benavides during the shooting.)
LEE
Oswald walked past taxi driver WW Scoggins, parked near the corner of
10th & Patton, who said Oswald wore dark trousers and a light shirt. Scoggins then
called his dispatcher to report the shooting and his dispatcher called
for an ambulance. As LEE Oswald continued walking north on Patton, Ted
Callaway saw him at a distance of about 60 ft. and 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" (CE 705, pg 27). 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 no
brown shirt, just a white
T-shirt. The next person to see LEE Oswald was Warren Reynolds,
part owner of Johnny Reynolds Used Car Lot at the corner of Patton and
Jefferson Blvd. Reynolds followed Oswald a short distance and last saw
him walking past the Ballew Texaco Station. On January 22, 1964, FBI
agents Kesler and Mitchem showed a photograph of Lee HARVEY Oswald to
Reynolds, at which time he advised the two agents that he would
hesitate to definitely identify the man shown in the photograph as the
shooter. A few minutes later Robert and Mary Brock saw LEE Oswald as he
walked past the Ballew Texaco Station, 600 Jefferson Blvd. Mary said
Oswald was wearing "light clothing, a light colored jacket and with his
hands in his pocket" (interview of Brock by SAs Kesler and Mitchem
1/22/64). As he walked through the parking area adjacent to the Texaco
station, LEE Oswald removed his medium-size jacket and threw it under a
car, which left him wearing only a white t-shirt, and carrying
a loaded pistol. Not one person saw LEE Oswald with a long-sleeved brown shirt, but several
people saw him wearing a white
t-shirt. LEE Oswald's destination, almost certainly chosen by
his handlers, was the Texas Theater--a 13-14 minute walk from 10th &
Patton.
|
|
At
left is LEE Oswald photographed by his brother Robert in 1958. At
right is the jacket allegedly found
under a car near the Texaco station after the Tippit slaying. Are the
jackets the same?
|
At approximately 1:15 PM an ambulance
was dispatched from Dudley Hughes Funeral Home and arrived at 10th
& Patton within a minute. Tippit's body was quickly loaded into the
ambulance by Clayton Butler and Eddie Kinsley and driven to a nearby
Methodist Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr.
Liquori around 1:22 PM. Among the items removed from Tippit at the
hospital and taken to the police station was one "black billfold." At
1:22 PM a DPD dispatch reported: "Last seen about the 300 block East
Jefferson. He's a white male about 30, 5'8," Black hair, slender,
wearing a white jacket, white
shirt and dark slacks."
Johnny Brewer told police that he first saw Oswald suspiciously lurking
near his doorway at Hardy's Shoe Store around 1:30 PM. But Brewer did
not see the man who was arrested by the police, wearing a brown shirt and lurking
near his doorway at 1:30 pm, because the man wearing the brown shirt (HARVEY Oswald)
had been inside the Texas Theater for the past 20 minutes. Brewer may
have seen someone "lurking" near Hardy's Shoe Store, and he apparently
followed that person (LEE Oswald) to the Texas Theater. Around 1:30 PM,
cashier Julia Postal was watching her boss leave the theater walking
west. At the same time LEE Oswald hurried past Postal, without buying a
ticket, and ran up the stairs to the balcony. Brewer followed him into
the theater and told Butch Burroughs about the suspicious man. Both men
checked to make sure the two exit doors, which opened onto the alley at
the rear of the building, had not been opened. While Burroughs stood by
the west exit door, Brewer walked to the front of the theater and told
Julia Postal to call the police because the man was still somewhere
inside the theater. Burroughs
remembered that Brewer appeared about 20 minutes after he (Burroughs) first saw
HARVEY Oswald in the theater. Brewer then walked to the east
exit door and remained there until the police arrived.
After running into the theater there is a good possibility that LEE
Oswald was going to quickly leave the theater through one of two exit
doors that opened into the alley, leaving HARVEY Oswald in the theater.
Burroughs and Brewer, watching the exit doors, may have prevented his
departure. In the alley, behind the theater, a young man was standing
next to a pickup truck with the engine running. After the police
arrived Captain C.E. Talbert and some officers questioned the young man
and searched the pickup, but made no police reports about the incident.
Talbert testified before the Warren Commission, but at no time in over
20 pages of testimony was he asked, nor did he volunteer, anything
about the Texas Theater, Oswald's arrest, or the young man in the alley
(24H242). We will probably never know the name of this man nor will we
know what he was doing in the alley while LEE Oswald was hiding in the
balcony.
THE WALLET AT 10TH & PATTON
Following the shooting, eight or nine people walked to Tippit's patrol
car and saw him lying on the street. A few minutes later ambulance
attendants Clayton Butler and Eddie Kinsley arrived and removed
Tippit's body. DPD officers began to arrive at the scene and started to
question witnesses as on-lookers gathered. But not one witness, not one ambulance
driver, not one neighbor, not one on-looker and not one trained police
officer saw a wallet lying on the street or in Tippit's car.
Dallas Police Captain Westbrook, along with Sergeant Calvin Owens and
assistant DA Bill Alexander, arrived a few minutes later. Westbrook
heard over the police radio that a suspicious person had been seen
running into a nearby library, and was immediately driven to that
location. After returning to 10th & Patton a wallet suddenly
appeared in Westbrook's hands with identification for Lee Harvey
Oswald, which linked Oswald to Tippit's murder, and with identification
for Alek Hidell that linked Hidell (Oswald) to the rifle found on the
6th floor of the Book Depository. Westbrook called out to FBI agent Bob
Barrett and asked him if he knew anything about Oswald or Hidell.
Barrett was unfamiliar with these names, but saw the wallet, along with
Captain George Doughty, Sergeant Calvin Owens, Sergeant Kenneth Croy,
accident investigator Howell Summers, and WFAA TV cameraman Ron
Reiland. Reiland filmed police officers as they inspected and handled
the wallet. The Dallas Police officers at 10th & Patton now knew,
thanks to identification found in the wallet, that "Lee Harvey Oswald"
was the prime suspect in Tippit's murder. Their next stop was the Texas
Theater where HARVEY Oswald, wearing a long-sleeve brown shirt, was sitting in
the 4th row in the lower level, while LEE Oswald, wearing a white t-shirt, was hiding
in the balcony.
|
|
A
frame from WFAA newsreel footage
|
Captain Westbrook was the ranking officer at 10th & Patton and knew
police procedure as well as anyone. If Westbrook was not the person who
brought the wallet to 10th & Patton, then he should have insisted
on police reports to establish a "chain of custody" for the wallet,
written a detailed report about the wallet and its contents, entered
the wallet into evidence at DPD headquarters, and discussed the wallet
with the Warren Commission. But not a single police report was written
about the wallet and neither Westbrook, Owens, nor Croy mentioned nor
was asked about the wallet by the FBI, Secret Service, or the Warren Commission. The fact that
Captain Westbrook totally ignored police procedure about a crucial
piece of evidence is reason to believe that Westbrook was the person
responsible for bringing the wallet to 10th & Patton and, according
to FBI agent Barrett, it was Westbrook who kept the wallet. This wallet
was the single most important piece
of evidence ever found prior to Oswald's arrest, yet ten minutes
after it appeared this wallet disappeared and was never seen again.
This disappearing wallet is PROOF that Tippit's murder was pre-planned.
If Westbrook, or anyone else, had identification in their possession
that would be used to identify a suspect in a murder, PRIOR TO THE
MURDER, then that person had prior knowledge of a pre-planned
assassination. The real significance of this wallet is that it shows
that Westbrook knew, IN ADVAVCE, that HARVEY Oswald would be accused of
Tippit's murder and that he would be linked, from identification in the wallet, to the assassination of
President Kennedy. The only reason for the wallet to appear at 10th
& Patton was to identify and frame Oswald. And the only reason for
this wallet to disappear is that DPD officers removed HARVEY Oswald's
wallet from his pants pocket while en route to the police station. Two
wallets that contain nearly identical identification are unexplainable.
After the assassination Captain
Westbrook relocated to South Vietnam, where he served as a CIA special
advisor to the Saigon Police.
