THE PRE-ARRANGED MURDER OF J.D. TIPPIT
By John Armstrong
A BRIEF SUMMARY
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. The precise
time and exact location of Tippit's murder was carefully planned and
staged to make it appear as though HARVEY Oswald first shot and killed
JFK and then shot and killed Officer Tippit.
After President Kennedy was shot HARVEY Oswald left the TSBD and went
to his rooming house (circa 1:00 PM). A few minutes later he arrived at
the Texas Theater (circa 1:07 PM), but his arrival at the theater was
no accident--HARVEY Oswald went to the theater because he was
following orders. While in the darkened theater HARVEY moved
from seat to seat, as remembered by theater patron Jack Davis. His
constant movements in the theater show that HARVEY Oswald was looking
for someone, likely a "contact." After (HARVEY) Oswald was arrested and
taken to police headquarters the halves of two one dollar bills were
among the items taken from him. Using half dollar bills was a spy
technique that allowed one agent, when first meeting an unknown agent,
to verify the identity of the unknown agent when the agent produced the
other half of the same dollar bill (see DPD report below).
While HARVEY Oswald was inside the darkened Texas Theater (circa 1:07
PM), LEE Oswald, Officer J.D. Tippit, Dallas Police Captain William
Westbrook, and reserve police sergeant Kenneth Croy arrived at a narrow
driveway near 10th & Patton. The arrival of these four men, at
the same time, and at the same location, was for the purpose of
murdering officer Tippit. LEE Oswald walked west on 10th St. and then,
after spotting Officer Tippit's patrol car driving east, Oswald turned
around and walked west--directly to Tippit's patrol car. Tippit
had stopped and parked directly in front of a narrow driveway at
408/410 E. 10th St. that ran
from the alley to 10th St. As the two men began talking, a police car
(#207) driven by Capt. Westbrook, with passenger Kenneth Croy, drove
from the alley onto the narrow driveway. Westbrook parked the car
between two houses where it was partially hidden from view and could
only be seen by onlookers who were directly in front of the car. These
four men, all arriving at the same time, at the same narrow driveway
near 10th & Patton a circa 1:05-06 PM was not a
coincidence. Their meeting was pre-arranged for the purpose of
murdering Officer Tippit, and blaming HARVEY Oswald (who was at the
Texas Theater) for his murder.
After killing Tippit, LEE Oswald left the scene and was seen by several witnesses walking south on Patton St. He turned right on Jefferson Blvd., hurried to the Texaco station, and then turned right and walked north thru the parking lot at the back of the station. LEE Oswald was then seen by witness Jimmy Burt (standing on Patton St. looking west) walking across the alley (between Jefferson Blvd & 10th St.) toward the Abundant Life Church. Oswald (LEE) likely met up with Capt. Westbrook (driving police car #207) who, moments earlier, was probably the man driving the police car in the alley that was seen by Sam Guinyard after Officer Tippit was shot and killed. Westbrook likely drove LEE Oswald to the Texas Theater in order to avoid the possibility of LEE Oswald being spotted and arrested by roaming Dallas police if he had walked 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. Less than 30 minutes after dropping LEE Oswald off at the Texas Theater Westbrook drove to the parking lot behind the Texaco station where he planted and then "found" the jacket. 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. The weapon taken from HARVEY Oswald was brought directly to the personnel office (Westbrook's office) by officer Gerry Hill (who worked for Westbrook) and it remained in Westbrook's office for nearly an hour. Capt. Westbrook, with the wallet, jacket, and .38 revolver, was instrumental in helping to set up, oversee, and manage the murder of Officer Tippit, framing HARVEY Oswald as the man who murdered Tippit, and cover up his own involvement by falsifying police reports, destroying evidence, and repeatedly lying to the Warren Commission.
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 around 1:30 PM, 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 and 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, yet his job as personnel officer had
nothing whatsoever to do with Homicide and Robbery. 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. There
were two police reports filed about the arrest of (LEE) Oswald in the
balcony of the theater, but there were no police reports concerning the
identity of a man taken out the back of the theater by police. It was
likely a high ranking Dallas police officer, most likely Capt.
Westbrook, who ordered LEE Oswald released. I speculate that Westbrook
may have 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. I further speculate that 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. Each of these men knew they would meet at this location at 1:00 PM, but only Tippit was unaware of his fate.
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 near the church behind the nearby Texaco parking lot. As Westbook drove six blocks to the Texas Theater, Oswald (LEE) removed and left his jacket, wallet, and the .38 revolver with Westbrook. After arriving at the theater, Oswald (LEE) purchased a ticket, and went upstairs to the balcony. The white Eisenhower-type jacket, worn by LEE Oswald when he shot Tippit, was soon "planted" by Westbrook underneath a car in the Texaco parking lot. Within minutes this jacket was then "found" by Capt. Westbrook. A few minutes later the wallet, which contained identification for both Lee Harvey Oswald and Alek Hidell, was shown by Westbrook to fellow officers and to FBI agent Robert Barrett at the scene of the Tippit murder. This wallet, while being inspected by police officers, was filmed by newsman Ron Reiland. Westbrook soon re-took possession of this wallet, which disappeared and was never seen again. However, two identification cards from the wallet, one with the name "Alek James Hidell" and the other with the name "Alex James Hidell," soon appeared at police headquarters. The name "Hidell" was essential in order to frame HARVEY Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy. "Hidell" was the name allegedly used by HARVEY Oswald when he allegedly purchased the mail order Mannlicher Carcano rifle from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago.
Captain
William Ralph Westbrook was 45 years old in 1963 and 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. Police car
#207, assigned to Officer Jimmy Valentine, was at police headquarters.
Valentine soon drove Officer Gerry Hill, who worked directly for
Westbrook, and news reporter Jim Ewell to the TSBD. Westbrook told the
WC 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 1:20 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 AND RESERVE OFFICER SGT. KENNETH
CROY'S LIKELY WHEREABOUTS AND THEIR ACTIVITIES FROM 12:35 THRU 1:20 PM
ON THE AFTERNOON OF NOVEMBER 22, 1963.
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 and the same
time that Capt. Westbrook was at City Hall (Police Headquarters).
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 told the WC that 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 to Oak Cliff to locate HARVEY Oswald. It was Westbrook and Croy, in police car #207, who drove past Oswald's rooming house, honked the horn, and were seen by Earlene Roberts around 1:00 PM. They picked up HARVEY Oswald near the corner of Beckley and Zang and then drove him to the alley behind the Texas Theater. HARVEY Oswald then walked thru a narrow passage (used as a fire escape from the theater) from the alley to Jefferson Blvd. and purchased a theater ticket from Julia Postal. Westbrook then drove 6 blocks east, thru the alley between Jefferson Blvd and 10th St., and parked police car #207 between two houses at 404 and 410 E. 10th. Both men saw LEE Oswald talking with Tippit thru the passenger side car window. When Tippit saw Westbrook arrive in the squad car, for their pre-arranged meeting at 1:00 PM, he got out of his patrol car. As Tippit was walking to the front of his patrol car, he 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 (car #207) and hurry toward Tippit who was dying and laying next to his squad car.
In 1968 a reader wrote to Playboy
Magazine. He 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 (LEE Oswald and Westbrook). There were at least
half a dozen other people who witnessed this. The unknown eye witness
to the murder of Tippit was correct--there were more than a half dozen
other people who witnessed the shooting, and even more witnesses who
focused their attention on the murder scene seconds after shots were
fired.
Ann McCravy was looking out
the window of her home at 404 E 10th when Tippit was shot. Jack Tatum,
who had just driven past Tippit's patrol car, heard the shots and
stopped his car. He saw a man approach the police officer, who was
lying in the street, and fire a fourth shot into his (Tippit's) head.
Neighbors Acquilla Clemmons, Doris Holan, the anonymous Playboy
reader, and likely Domingo Benavides, saw two men as they hurried off
in different directions (LEE Oswald and Westbrook). Westbrook hurried
back to squad car #207, backed up into the alley, and left Sgt. Croy at
the scene. The squad car was seen driving in the alley by Sam Guinyard
who worked at Harris Motors, across the alley from Virginia Davis'
house. Westbrook then drove one block west and met up with LEE Oswald
near the Abundant Life Church. Westbrook drove LEE Oswald to the Texas
Theater and then returned in car #207 to the TSBD. Westbrook needed to
be seen at or near the TSBD before he "officially" heard about a police
officer being shot in Oak Cliff.
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. However, Westbrook 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's 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 (10th & Patton). But Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell
said that he rode in the back seat of Westbrook's unmarked squad car--but
not to the scene of Tippit's murder!! Westbrook drove to
Jefferson Blvd., and stopped near the Texaco station where he (Jim
Ewell) and Sgt. Stringer got out of the car. A few minutes later
Westbrook, now alone in his car, just happened to find Oswald's jacket
in the parking lot behind the Texaco Station. A few minutes later
Westbrook drove to 10th & Patton where he showed fellow police
officers a second Oswald wallet, which contained identification that
linked Oswald/Hidell to the rifle found on the 6th floor of the TSBD
(this wallet, photographed by news reporter Ron Reiland, then
disappeared and was never seen again). After the police dispatcher
reported a "suspicious man" had entered the Texas Theater Capt.
Westbrook, along with St. Stringer and Jim Ewell, was the first police
officer to arrive at the Texas Theater, and parked 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 after
witnessing the shooting of Officer Tippit, Capt. Westbrook backed up
car #207 into the alley while Croy remained near the scene of the
shooting. Minutes later the ambulance arrived, and Croy told the W.C.
he saw Tippit's body loaded into the ambulance. We must also remember
that it was likely Croy who boarded the Marsalis bus with Wesbrook
(looking for HARVEY Oswald). Croy was with Westbrook when they drove by
Oswald's rooming house. Croy was with Westbrook when they drove HARVEY
Oswald to the Texas Theater. 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.
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 knoll and getting into a Nash Rambler station wagon at
12:40 PM (see sign on top of TSBD).
Twenty minutes later (a few
minutes before 1:00 PM) LEE Oswald was seen walking west, past a barber
shop near 10th and Ewing. Minutes later he was seen by several people
walking west on 10th St. LEE Oswald, wearing a white Eisenhower-type
jacket over a white t-shirt, and carrying a .38 revolver, was en route
to a pre-arranged meeting at 1:00 PM with Capt. Westbrook and Officer
J.D. Tippit near 10th & Patton. A few minutes later, as Westbrook
sat watching in police car #207, LEE Oswald would murder Officer J.D.
Tippit.
Harvey Oswald's jacket
On the morning of 11/22/63
HARVEY Oswald left the Paine's home in Irving, TX and walked to the
nearby home of Wesley Frazier, with whom he rode to the TSBD. Frazier's
sister, Linnie Mae Randle, saw Oswald as he walked to her house and was
interviewed by the WC.
Mr. BALL. How was Lee dressed that morning?
Mrs. RANDLE. ...he had on a white T-shirt and I remember some sort of brown or tan shirt and he had a gray jacket....
Mr. BALL. A gray jacket....
Mrs. RANDLE. Yes, sir....It had big sleeves.
Mr. BALL. Take a look at these sleeves. Was it similar in color?
Mrs. RANDLE. I believe so.
Mr. BALL. What is the Commission Exhibit on this jacket?
Mrs. RANDLE. It was gray, I am not sure of the shade.
Mr. BALL. Well, this one is gray but of these two the jacket I last showed you is Commission Exhibit No. 162, and this blue gray is 163, now if you had to choose between these two?
Mrs. RANDLE. I would choose the dark one.
Mr. BALL. You would choose the dark one?
Mrs. RANDLE. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Which is 163
Commission Exhibit
162 |
Commission Exhibit
163 |
According to Mrs. Randle,
HARVEY Oswald was wearing the jacket described as CE 163 on the morning
of 11/22/63.
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.
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 pick up
HARVEY Oswald, after he deboarded the Marsalis bus, drive him to the
Texas Theater, and then drive to 10th & Patton for his meeting with
Capt. Westbrook at 1:00 PM. HARVEY Oswald's assignment was to meet his
contact at 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... I didn't pay any particular
attention to him. He was to me just dressed in what I would call work
clothes, just some type of little old jacket on.... I I would say a
cloth jacket... 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 (blue colored jacket--CE #163). 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 (VERY IMPORTANT): Marina told the FBI that Oswald owned only two jackets-one a heavy jacket, blue in color, and another light jacket, gray in color. In Whaley's taxi Oswald (HARVEY) was wearing "a work jacket that almost matched the pants (blue faded color)." Oswald likely took off his jacket and carried the jacket, in hand, when he entered his rooming house. Housekeeper Earlene Roberts testified that when Oswald (HARVEY) left the rooming house (circa 1:00-1:02) he was wearing "a kind of zipper jacket" and described the jacket as being "dark color." The author believes that Oswald (HARVEY), wearing his dark blue jacket (CE #163), got into police car #207 that was seen driving by the rooming house by Earlene Roberts (driven by Capt. Westbrook).
Whaley said "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). I believe that Tippit's assignment was
to either murder HARVEY Oswald, after he deboarded the Marsalis bus, or
to drive HARVEY Oswald to the Texas Theater. Either way, Tippit was to
then drive to 10th & Patton for his 1:00 PM meeting with Capt.
Westbrook. However, unknown to Tippit, Oswald had deboarded the
Marsalis Ave. bus on Elm St., 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. He then
hurried to the Top 10 Record Store (follow purple line in map below)
and asked to use the telephone.
NOTE: 10 minutes after the President of the United States was murdered Officer Tippit was sitting in his patrol car watching traffic? Bizarre, unless he was following orders.
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:
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, likely to Capt.
Westbrook.
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 was likely carrying his
blue, zippered jacket, in hand when he entered the rooming house. HARVEY
Oswald spent a minute or two changing his pants and work shirt
(t-shirt) before leaving.
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
discussed nor investigated by the Warren Commission nor 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--the police car that Officer Jimmy Valentine, along with Officer
Hill and news reporter Jim Ewell, drove to the TSBD. Westbrook, along
with Sgt. Croy, drove car #207 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.
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." The author believes that 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. When (HARVEY) Oswald got out of the police car at the Texas
Theater he was not wearing the dark colored jacket (CE #163) that
housekeeper
Earlene Roberts saw him zipping up as he left the rooming house. It
appears that Oswald left this dark colored zippered jacket in car #207
(driven by Capt. Westbrook). Oswald (HARVEY) purchased a theater
ticket from Julia Postal and entered the Texas Theater wearing a long
sleeve brown shirt.
NOTE:
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 (Officer
Jimmy M. Valentine), 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.
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?
Westbrook drove from Beckley
and Zhang (Oswald's rooming house; circa 1:00-1:02 PM) to the alley
behind the Texas Theater in less than two minutes (1.1 miles). He
dropped (HARVEY) Oswald off in the deserted alley behind the Texas
Theater. Oswald then walked from the alley thru a narrow passage way
(used as a fire escape from the theater) to Jefferson Blvd. (photo
below). (HARVEY) Oswald then purchased a theater ticket from Julia
Postal, entered the theater, and walked into the lower section. Butch
Burroughs, ticket taker and concessionaire, said the Oswald arrived at
the theater between 1:00 and 1:07 PM (click here for
video of Burroughs).
The author believes that Capt.
Westbrook and Croy then drove police car #207 six blocks east, thru the
same alley, and after crossing 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). This short
drive was .8 of a mile, took less than 2 minutes, and places their time
of arrival at the Tipppit murder scene at 1:05-1:06 PM.
NOTE: The Warren Commission's version of LHO's movements: The green line shows Westbrook, Croy, and (HARVEY) Oswald's route from Beckley and Zhang (Oswald's rooming house) to the Texas Theater. The purple line shows Westbrook and Croy's route, thru the alley, crossing Patton St., and turning left onto a small driveway between two houses located at 404 and 410 E. 10th.
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.
NOTE: A police officer, driving a police patrol car, can park anywhere he chooses on a public street. The fact that Tippit stopped and parked directly in front of a private driveway is a strong indication that Tippit was told precisely where and when to park his patrol car. Meeting LEE Oswald at this location, with Westbrook and Croy arriving in police car #297 at nearly the same time, was no accident.
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
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.
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 most likely left his dark colored
zip-up jacket in the police car driven by Capt. Westbrook before he
arrived at the theater. While in the theater HARVEY Oswald was wearing
a brown long-sleeve shirt over a white t-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.
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 told him. 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 both HARVEY and LEE were in the theater long
before 1:30 PM and neither man 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 circa 1:01-1:07 PM. 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.
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.
I do not believe that early on
the morning of 11/22/63, when HARVEY Oswald left the Paine home, that
he had possession of the "half-dollar bills." And I do not believe that
HARVEY Oswald knew anything about the upcoming assassination of
President Kennedy. I speculate that after HARVEY Oswald first learned
of the shooting, while in the lunchroom, he needed to locate Bill
Shelley for advice and direction. When he met up with Shelley on the
first floor, near the domino room, I speculate that Shelley gave him
the two half-dollar bills and told him to take the Marsalis bus, and go
directly to the Texas Theater to meet his contact.
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.
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.
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, hurry to
the front of Tippit's car and fire another shot into Tippit's head.
Could Capt. Westbrook, who was getting out of police car #207 at the
same time, could 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."
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 his brother's apartment (#7) at
403 E. 10th St., heard four shots. He ran outside and saw a police car
parked on the street and a police officer lying on the ground. He
walked across the street and briefly stood beside Helen Markham, before
she approached 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. Elbert Austin told the
FBI that on 11/22/63 he was working as a brick mason's helper on a
construction job at the intersection of Tenth and Denver Street,
Dallas, Texas. Sometime after 1:00 PM he heard approximately two or
three shots and, looking in a westerly direction, he saw a policeman
lying in front of a police car on the left front side. He observed an
individual running west on Tenth Street and then turn left and go down
another street. AUSTIN advised he did not go down to the scene of the
shooting.
1:06 PM (circa). Taxi
driver William Scoggins heard three shots.
1:06 PM (circa). Jimmy Burt said he heard six shots and, within
seconds, drove with his friend (William Smith) in his 1952 two-tone
Ford one-half block to the scene of the shooting.
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. At 1:06 PM Benavides was driving his yellow 1958
Chevrolet pickup truck west on 10th St. As Benavides approached the
squad car he saw a policeman get out of the car and walk toward the
front of his squad car. He then saw a man, standing near the passenger
door of the squad car, shoot Officer Tippit. Benavides told the WC he
heard three shots. He immediately slammed on the brake of his pickup
truck, turned toward the curb, and stopped. 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.
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.
Click on the image above to see the short interview with Oswald.
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 was standing beside her: "He had a hat on. I thought he
was a policeman." This man was reserve officer Sgt. Croy, who remained
at the scene after Westbrook left the scene in police car #207. Croy
was likely wearing the dark colored jacket left in Westbrook's car by
HARVEY Oswald, which would partially cover his police uniform. As a
reserve officer Croy was not allowed to carry a gun. The dark colored
jacket and lack of a gun may have caused Markham to wonder if this man
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 (identical to what Acquilla Clemens said). 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), who heard five shots. 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) 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). Butler's memory and testimony was
near perfect. Tippit was pronounced dead at 1:15 PM. 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. As a
reserve officer Croy 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 admission that he was at the
Tippit murder scene only minutes after Tippit was shot is not only very
suspicious, it is also very informative.
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
would Croy know to drive directly to 10th & Patton?
The first reports of a shooting at 10th & Patton were reported to
police circa 1:08-1:09 PM. Ambulance driver Jasper Clayton Butler, Jr.
told the HSCA he drove 3 blocks to the scene of the murder (arriving
circa 1:10-1:11 PM), and loaded Tippet's body into the ambulance in
less than one minute (circa 1:11-1:12 PM). He then drove to the
Methodist Hospital, a 2 minute drive, and arrived circa 1:13-1:14 PM
(click here to read full HSCA
interview of Butler). Tippit was taken into the
emergency room where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 PM. Butler told the
HSCA from the time he left Dudley Hughes to the time he arrived at
Methodist Hospital was 4 minutes. In 1963 Butler was 30 years old, and
had been working for Dudley Hughes for two years. When interviewed by
the HSCA in September, 1977 Butler was still working for Dudley Hughes.
Croy has a timing problem. Croy told the WC, and this is
very important, that he watched as Tippit's body was loaded into the
ambulance. This would place Croy at 10th & Patton circa 1:11-1:12
PM. However, the drive from Colorado Blvd. and Zang, where Croy says he
was when he heard about the shooting, to the scene of the shooting
(10th & Patton) is a 4-5 minute drive. Therefore, the earliest Croy
could have arrived at 10th & Patton would have been 1:13-1:14 PM,
but at this time the ambulance was already en route to Methodist
Hospital. There are 3 possibilities:
1) If Croy listened to the radio calls from Benavides or Bowley to the police dispatcher from Tippit's 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, and there are no reports by any witness that a police officer
arrived on the scene in his personal car.
I believe that reserve officer Croy arrived at the scene in police car
#207 with personnel officer Capt. Westbrook circa 1:05-1:06 PM. When
they arrived LEE Oswald was talking with Tippit thru the passenger
window of his patrol car. As soon as Tippit saw Westbrook arrive in a
squad car he got out of his patrol car, but moments later was shot and
killed (circa1:06 PM). Westbrook quickly got out of police car #207,
briefly looked at Tippit lying dead or dying in the street, and then
quickly returned to police car #207. Westbrook quickly left the scene
in the police car, driving west thru the alley, while Sgt. Croy
remained at the scene.
I believe that Croy briefly wore the dark blue coat left in car #207 by
HARVEY Oswald when he (Oswald) was driven to the Texas Theater (coat
was last seen by Earlene Roberts as HARVEY Oswald was leaving the
rooming house). This coat covered the dark blue police shirt which
would identify Croy as a police officer. In the minutes following the
shooting (beginning at 1:06 PM) Croy kept a low profile and watched as
witness Helen Markham approached Tippit's body, lying in the street.
Croy then walked to Tippit's body, stood by Helen Markham, removed the
coat, and placed (HARVEY) Oswald's dark colored coat over Tippit's
lifeless body. Markham told the WC about a man standing beside her,
"This man had a hat on. I thought he was a policeman." Markham may have
"thought he [Croy] was a policeman" because he (Croy) was likely
wearing the dark blue coat that covered his police uniform and also
because reserve officer Croy was not armed with a gun. WC attorney Burt
Griffin asked Croy, "What did you do when you got there?" Croy
answered, "Got me a witness... a woman standing across the street from
me. I don't recall her name. She gave me her name at that time."
Griffin asked, "How long did you talk with her?" Croy replied, "Oh, a
good 5 or 10 minutes." In other words, Croy began talking with Markham
minutes after the shooting, and continued talking with her until police
units arrived on the scene.
It is important to understand and remember that Croy placed a dark
colored coat over Tippit's body BEFORE the ambulance arrived. If not
Croy, then who--Bowley, Callaway, Benavides, Burt? When the ambulance
arrived (circa 1:09-1:10 PM), Jasper Clayton Butler, Jr. told the HSCA
that after arriving at the scene, he removed a "royal blue coat" from
Tippit's body. I believe that after Tippit was placed in the ambulance
Croy took this coat and returned the coat to Westbrook. Westbrook then
gave the coat to William (Bill) Shelley, who placed the coat in the
domino room at the TSBD. This coat, the dark colored coat that HARVEY
Oswald was wearing when seen by Wesley Frazier's sister Linnie Mae
Randle, taxi driver William Whaley, housekeeper Earlene Roberts, and
removed from Tippit's body by ambulance driver Jasper Clayton Butler,
was "found" three weeks later (December 16, 1963) in the domino room at
the TSBD by employee Frankie Kaiser. The Warren Commission identified
this jacket as CE #163.
After helping load
Tippit's body into the ambulance, T.F. Bowley said that he talked with
a police sergeant (almost certainly Sgt. Croy) at the scene and then
left (see page 3 of the affidavit below).
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.
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 worked at a car lot on Jefferson Blvd, across the
street from Ted Callaway's car lot (Dootch Motors). Reynolds told the
WC he heard
"five or six 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.
Jimmy Burt stood on Patton St., facing the alley and looking west. He momentarily watched as the shooter walked westward in the alley toward Crawford St. Burt's observation and his memory of events are very important for two specific reasons:
1) When Burt first saw the shooter hurrying south on Patton Street, he was wearing a light colored jacket. When Burt saw the same man, as he left the parking lot behind the Texaco station and began walking in the alley toward Crawford Street, the shooter (LEE Oswald) was wearing the same light colored jacket. IN OTHER WORDS, THE SHOOTER HAD NOT DISCARDED HIS JACKET IN THE PARKING LOT BEHIND THE TEXACO STATION. I believe the shooter (LEE Oswald) was still wearing the same jacket when he got into police car #207, which Westbrook had momentarily parked next to the church. The next time LEE Oswald appeared was in the balcony of the Texas Theater, without a jacket. Now both HARVEY Oswald's dark colored zippered coat, and LEE Oswald's light colored jacket, were in car #207 driven by Westbrook. Some 35 minutes later Oswald's (LEE) light colored jacket would be found by Westbrook in the Texaco parking lot, photographed, and entered into police evidence by Capt. Westbrook. I believe that HARVEY Oswald left this dark colored jacket in Westbrook's car, and entered the Texas Theater wearing a long sleeve brown shirt. This was the same dark colored, zipper jacket that HARVEY Oswald was wearing when he left his rooming house at 1:00-1:01 PM on 11/22/63. The same jacket that Croy placed over Tippit's body, which Croy soon returned to Westbrook. I believe that Westbrook gave the jacket to Bill Shelley, who placed the jacket in the domino room at the TSBD. Three weeks later (Dec 16, 1963) HARVEY Oswald's dark colored jacket was found by employee Frankey Kaiser on a window sill in the Domino room.
2) When Jimmy Burt returned to the scene of the shooting the ambulance had not yet arrived, but Burt said the police were already there. The only policeman present at the scene of Tippits' murder, prior to the ambulance arriving, was reserve officer Kenneth Croy.Warren Reynolds, who was following Oswald (LEE) as he walked west on Jefferson Blvd., watched as Oswald hurried past the Texaco station and began walking north thru the parking lot. Reynolds then 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), was seen by Sam Guinyard as he drove one block east to Crawford St., and soon met up with LEE Oswald on Crawford St. near the Abundant Life Church (end of the red line in aerial photo below).
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.
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 thru the closed doors and into the concession area, but
instead 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 (circa 1:12 PM),
Westbrook quickly drove police car #207 back to the Texas School Book
Depository, arriving circa 1:18-1:20 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.
When Westbrook testified
before the WC he tried to conceal the time of his arrival (circa 1:20
PM) at the TSBD. Westbrook told the WC that after walking to the TSBD
"I contacted my sergeant Sgt. R. D. Stringer, and he was standing in
front and so then I went into the building to help start the search
and 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 on this dock,
one of the men hollered and said there had been an officer killed in
Oak Cliff." Westbrook was trying to make it appear to the WC as
though he was at the TSBD when Tippit was shot (circa 1:06 PM). In
reality, when he arrived at the TSBD circa 1:20 PM, the building was
already filled with police, the building had been sealed, the rifle and
empty shells had been located, the sniper's nest identified, and
building manager Roy Truly had already told Chief Lumpkin that Lee
Harvey Oswald was missing from the building. In Oak Cliff, Tippit had
been taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 1:15 PM, a few police
officers had arrived at 10th & Patton, Sgt. Croy was photographed
standing with Helen Markham, and police were beginning to search the
neighborhood for the shooter. All of these things happened when
Westbrook and Croy were in Oak Cliff.
Later, Westbrook changed his story. Instead of hearing about the Tippit
shooting on the first floor "when he came out on the dock" at the rear
of the TSBD, he told the WC that he heard about the shooting of a
police officer on "his radio." It is important to remember that
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 told the WC 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." Westbook was lying. Westbrook also told
the WC that he got into a police car and "an officer drove him to
the immediate vicinity of where Tippit had been shot and killed....I
don't know where this officer went after he let us out at the scene." More
lies. Westbrook was not driven to where Tippit was shot
and killed. Westbrook was not driven anywhere. Dallas Morning
News reporter Jim Ewell rode with Westbrook as he drove his unmarked
police car from the TSBD directly to the parking lot behind the Texaco
station on Jefferson Blvd. Westbrook repeatedly lied to the Warren
Commission--one lie after another.
Westbrook told the WC that he was driven to the scene with Sgt.
Stringer and "some patrolman," but Westbrook was once again lying.
Sgt. Stringer was in the front seat, reporter Jim Ewell was in the back
seat, and Westbrook was driving (read Jim Ewell's account here). Westbrook told the
WC that he was driven to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit
had been shot and killed, which was yet another lie. Westbrook
drove his unmarked police car to McCandles Market on Jefferson Blvd.
where Jim Ewell got out of the car and walked into the market. Ewell
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 (circa 1:30 PM).
Capt. Westbrook was then alone in his unmarked, dark blue police car.
In the author's opinion, Westbrook 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
(north) was the back side of the Abundant Life Church. On the right
side of the alley (south) was a long row of cars parked side by side
(see photo below). 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 from the TSBD 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?
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 did Westbrook
not enter this wallet into evidence nor discuss it with the WC, DPD,
FBI, HSCA? 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?
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, trying to conceal his involvement with the Tippit murder.
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
that I believe was given to him a half hour earlier when he briefly met
up with LEE Oswald and drove him to the Texas Theater. 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.
NOTE: There was one more item(s), ALLEGEDLY found in Ruth Paine's garage, that linked HARVEY Oswald to A. Hidell and the rifle found on the 6th floor of the TSBD--35 mm film negatives that were apparently used to make the SSS and USMC cards below with the names ALEK JAMES HIDELL and ALEX JAMES HIDELL. These two cards (photos below) were in LEE Oswald's wallet, in the possession of Capt. Westbrook at 10th & Patton. Westbrook showed the wallet to police officers and to FBI Agent Robert Barrett. Westbrook asked if anyone knew or were familiar with the names Lee Harvey Oswald or Hidell. Westbrook held onto the wallet and it was never seen again. After HARVEY Oswad was arrested, and while he was being driven to police headquarters, DPD officer Paul Bentley removed Oswald's wallet and examined the contents. The 5 police officers who were riding in the car with Oswald wrote reports to Chief Curry, but not one of these men reported seeing or hearing the name "Hidell" during the ride to police headquarters or on 11/22/63. This was because the two cards pictured below were not in HARVEY Oswald's wallet. When they arrived at police headquarters Bentley gave the wallet to Capt. Fritz in Homicide and Robbery. Later that evening HARVEY Oswald's wallet and contents were taken to FBI headquarters in Washington, DC and checked for fingerprints. When the FBI returned these items to the Dallas Police four days later (11/26/63) it is easy to see they had been examined for fingerprints (brown ink stains). The two cards with the names "Alek James Hidell" and "Alex James Hidell," were in the hands of Capt. Westbrook at 10th & Patton. These cards were not sent to FBI headquarters on the evening of November 22. They remained in Dallas, unknown to the police officers who accompanied HARVEY Oswald to police headquarters.
While HARVEY Oswald was being arrested and driven to police headquarters, something very unusual happened. Between 1:30-2:00 PM someone from the Dallas Police Department contacted Army Intelligence Lt. Colonel Robert E. Jones, Operations Officer of the 112th INTC group in San Antonio. This unidentified person told Lt. Col. Jones that when LEE Harvey Oswald was arrested today in Dallas he was carrying a Selective Service card bearing the name Alek James Hidell. Lt. Col. Jones then contacted the Department of Justice (FBI) and reported the information given to him from the phone call. At 4:25 PM the FBI (SAC-San Antonio) sent a memo to the Director and SAC-Dallas describing the information he had received from Lt. Col. Jones. On April 20, 1978 Lt. Colonel Robert E. Jones told the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) that he got the information about ALEK JAMES HIDELL from someone inside the DPD between 1:30 and 2:00 PM. The only person known to have this information at that time was Capt. Westbrook.
When
the contents of LHO's wallet was sent to FBI headquarters in
Washington, DC, the two cards shown above remained in Dallas.
Oswald's
wallet and contents after being returned by the FBI to the Dallas Police
A few minutes later, at 1:42 PM, crime
lab officers George Doughty and W.E. Barnes arrived and began checking
for fingerprints on Tippit's car. FBI Agent Bob Barrett arrived at 1:42
PM, parked his car across the street from Scoggin's taxi, 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.
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, Alek Hidell, and Alex Hidell, Westbrook reclaimed the
wallet and drove
one block to the parking lot behind the Texaco Station. WFAA-TV
(Channel 8) news photographer Ron Reiland accompanied Westbrook to the
parking lot where a brief film clip was made of a police officer
holding the jacket. Crime lab officers George Doughty and W.E. Barnes
also accompanied Westbrook one block south to the parking lot where
they photographed a 1954 Oldsmobile under which the jacket was
allegedly found. Westbrook, who had to cover-up his involvement with
finding the jacket, did not initial the jacket. Westbrook had both
George Doughty and W.E. Barnes initial 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. A LIE.
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. Another
LIE. 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." MORE LIES.
Dallas Morning News reporter Jim Ewell was in the parking lot behind
the Texaco station 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 included a description of the jacket in a
police report that he filled out, allegedly on November 22 at 3:00
PM. However, this jacket disappeared for over a week at police
headquarters. Oswald was never shown or asked about this jacket.
Westbrook likely held onto this jacket until it was turned over to FBI
Agent Vincent Drain on November 28, 1963. Westbrook knew this jacket
did not belong to Oswald (HARVEY) and, if questioned, knew that Oswald
would insist this medium size jacket did not belong to him. There
is no indication that Oswald (HARVEY) was ever asked, confronted,
questioned, or shown this jacket while in police custody.
Westbrook's
original police report about the suspect's jacket |
WC copy of
Westbrook's report with Westbrook's name hidden |
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).
QUESTION: It is worth remembering that Westbrook told the WC: "....I had a shotgun-I had borrowed a shotgun from a patrolman." Did Westbrook carry this shotgun into the Texas Theater?
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.
Several witnesses and police officers in the theater heard the revolver
"snap" and believed the gun had misfired. 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.
NOTE: Capt. Westbrook was the first police officer to arrive at the Texas Theater. He parked his unmarked police car directly in front of the theater and hurried into the theater. (Did Westbrook carry the shotgun he borrowed from a fellow police officer into the theater?) After Oswald was subdued by the police Westbrook told Carroll to take Oswald directly to police headquarters in his (Westbrook's) unmarked police car. There is no testimony or reports as to how long Westbrook remained at the Texas Theater, or whether he left alone. Westbrook may have left the Texas Theater in Officer Carroll's car and driven to police headquarters.
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.
NOTE: Butch Burroughs, the concession stand operator, saw a second arrest occur in the Texas Theater three or four minutes after (HARVEY) Oswald was taken out the front of the theater. Burroughs said the second man looked almost like Oswald, "like they were brothers or something." Burroughs saw the second Oswald placed under arrest, handcuffed, and taken out the back of the theater. Bernie Haire, owner of Bernie's Hobby House (two doors east of the theater), saw police cars congregating in the alley behind the theater. He saw the arrest of a young white man, who he thought was Oswald, placed in a police car that quickly drove away. Who was the driver/police officer who drove away in a police car with the young white man? If this young man was LEE Oswald, was he driven a few blocks to where his car was parked, and was he soon seen by Mr. T.F. White sitting in a 1961 red Ford Falcon in the nearby El Chico restaurant parking lot?
Capt.
Westbrook 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, in
the author's opinion, 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 in order to hide the identity of theater patrons in the
balcony who saw and could describe the young man arrested in the
balcony. Neither Lt. Cunningham nor J.B. Tony testified before the
Warren Commission.
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,
and his identification of Lee Harvey Oswald at 10th & Patton, 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 Carroll drove,
Gerry Hill was in the middle, and officer K.E. Lyons was on the far
right in the front seat. 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 told the WC that he walked
from the police station to the TSBD, and that he was driven to the
Tippit murder scene and to the Texas theater by an unidentified
officer. Each of these 5 police officers wrote a report to DPD Chief
Curry about Oswald's arrest. On December 4, Officer Carroll provided
Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry with his account of Oswald's arrest
and, accompanied by four policemen, that he drove Oswald to police
headquarters. But instead of identifying Capt. Westbrook's unmarked
police car as the car used to transport Oswald to police headquarters,
Carroll identified the car as
"police equipment #266." Sgt. Gerry Hill described the unmarked police
car as "a car parked in front of the theater." Officer Charles Walker
described the car as a "plain squad car." Officer Paul Bentley
described the car as "a patrol car parked in front of the theater."
Officer K.E. Lyon said nothing about the car. Every one of 5
these police officers, knowingly or unknowingly, were helping to
conceal the fact that their supervisor, Capt. Westbrook, had driven his
unmarked police car from the TSBD to the Texaco parking lot, to the
Tippit murder scene, and then to the Texas Theater. It was Westbrook's
unmarked police car that was used to drive HARVEY Oswald to police
headquarters. These officers were likely told by Westbrook not to
identify this car as his (Westbrook's) personal unmarked police car.
Westbrook needed to conceal, as much as possible, his involvement with
the Tippit murder. Prior to his WC testimony Westbrook had given WC
attorney Joseph Ball a written account of his activities on 11/22/63.
When Ball began to question Westbrook about finding and handling the
jacket Mr. Ball asked, "When did this happen? You gave me a sort of a
resume of what you had done, but you omitted this incident."
Westbrook was trying to conceal his presence, his knowledge, and his
involvement with LEE Oswald's jacket, the second Oswald wallet, and
with the Tippit murder.
After HARVEY Oswald was
placed into
Westbrook's unmarked police car, and driven to police headquarters,
Westbrook likely returned to police headquarters in one of the police
cars left at the theater. 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 three crucial pieces of evidence--the dark colored coat (worn by
HARVEY Oswald), the light colored jacket (worn by LEE Oswald), and the
2nd Oswald wallet (LEE Oswald). 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 are four questions for readers:
1) HARVEY Oswald left his rooming house wearing a dark colored zippered coat. He likely got into police car #207, was driven to the Texas Theater by Westbrook, but was not wearing a dark colored zippered coat in the Texas Theater. Was this the same coat found in the domino room at the TSBD by Frankie Kaiser three weeks later?
2) Was it Capt. Westbrook who planted and later "found" Oswald's jacket in the parking lot behind the Texaco station?
3) Westbrook showed identification from a second Oswald wallet to police officers and FBI agent Barrett at 10th & Patton. Is there any doubt that Westbrook knew about Harvey and Lee?
4) Tippit was shot and killed by LEE Oswald with a .38 revolver at 1:06 PM. HARVEY Oswald was arrested with a .38 revolver about 45 minutes later. Did Capt. Westbrook provide nearly identical .38 revolvers of the same make and model to each man? Did Westbrook then switch HARVEY Oswald's unfired .38 revolver with the .38 revolver that LEE Oswald used to murder officer Tippit? We must remember that the weapon taken from HARVEY Oswald at the Texas Theater was taken by Officer Gerry Hill directly to Westbrook's office, where it remained on Westbrook's desk for an hour before being initialed by police officers and then turned over to homicide and robbery.
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 in a police car, but was not
taken to the police station. Where did he go? Who was driving the
police 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. Capt Westbrook said that around 2:03 PM he got
into a car with Sergeant Stringer that was driven by patrolman Roy L.
Gross. Westbrook said that he notified the police dispatcher, "Notify
my office, I'm en route, will you ?" However, neither Stringer nor
Gross were interviewed by the WC and there is no evidence as to how
Westbrook returned to 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 rear license plate on the car, seen by Mr. White,
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 Public 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 of the red Ford Falcon
driven by LEE Oswald and seen in the El Chico parking lot by Mr. White.
Whoever removed the license plate(s) from Mather's car, 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 by one of his employees 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's mechanic, T.F. White,
the man who had seen Oswald sitting in the red Ford Falcon. Wise then
contacted the Texas Dept of Public Safety, and was given information
about the car to which license plate PP4357 was assigned. Wise then
contacted 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. Hill placed the gun on the desk next to Westbrook's desk. 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 HARVEY Oswald arrived at police headquarters he was placed in a small room. Capt. Fritz, who would soon question Oswald, 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 Fritz 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.
2:00 PM to 3:15
PM--CAPT. WESTBROOK'S OFFICE. Officer Gerry Hill arrived at police
headquarters before Westbrook (circa 2:00 PM). Hill took the .38
revolver (taken from HARVEY Oswald at the Texas Theater) to Westbrook's
office and placed it on Detective McGee's desk. When Capt. Westbrook
returned to his office, several minutes later, he had possession
(secretly) of the .38 revolver used to kill Tippit (given to him by LEE
Oswald). There were now two .38 caliber revolvers in Westbrook's
office--the murder weapon (Westbrook) and the gun taken from Oswald at
the Texas Theater (McGee's desk). I believe, but cannot prove, that
Westbrook "switched" the .38 revolver used to murder Tippit with the
.38 revolver taken from Oswald at the Texas Theater. At 3:15 PM
Detective Baker arrived at Westbrook's office to pick up the .38
revolver. The .38 revolver used to murder Tippit was then initialed by
officers McDonald, Bentley, Carroll, and Hill. Detective Baker then
took the .38 revolver and 6 rounds of live ammunition (3 Western .38
Special & 3 Remington-Peters .38 Special) to Capt. Fritz in
Homicide and Robbery. The gun taken from HARVEY Oswald at the Texas
Theater never fired a shot on 11/22/63, and may have had a bent firing
pin. This gun disappeared and was never seen again.
QUESTION: A .38 revolver holds up to 6 bullets. Is it possible that 3 Western .38 Special bullets came from one revolver and 3 Remington-Peters .38 Special bullets came from the other revolver? Let's also remember that after (HARVEY) Oswald had been searched several times the police ALLEGEDLY found 5 Western .38 Special bullets in his pants pocket.
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.
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.
Dallas Morning News,
Saturday, Aug. 20, 1966, p. 4 |
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. Here is an excerpt of that testimony:
Mr. GRIFFIN. Tell us how you came to believe that man was Jack Ruby?
Mr. CROY. Well, as I was standing there and this blur came from my left, someone running, and he ran by me at a pretty good clip, he was gaining momentum and he ran by me.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, was there anybody in front of him at that point?
Mr. CROY. Yes; there was reporters.
Mr. GRIFFIN. There were reporters. Now, what did he do as he got to these reporters?
Mr. CROY. He ran through them.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did he push them aside, or what?
Mr. CROY. These reporters. He just lowered his head and ran through them like a fullback went through a line.
This
YouTube/CNN video, less than a minute long, shows Kenneth Croy in a
white hat and police uniform standing next to Ruby in police
headquarters just a second or two before Harvey Oswald appears.
Croy is the rightmost figure in the film clip immediately below, which
was
taken at the 12-second mark of the video. Note how Croy seems to
stand back from the action as Ruby shoots Oswald. Ruby can be
seen in the video standing next to reporters in the middle image. It is
clear that Ruby did not "run by me [Croy] at a pretty good
clip." Ruby did not run through the reporters "like a fullback
went through a line."
On December 1, 1963, Croy
gave an affidavit in which he said, "I saw a man running into the crowd
in a crouch. At that moment I reached
for this individual and touched his coat tail attempting to stop him.
I saw him run right up to Oswald ...."
Once again Croy was lying. As
can be seen from numerous film clips of the shooting, Croy did not "reach
for this individual" nor did he "touch his coat tail attempting
to stop him." Warren Commission attorney Burt Griffin had reviewed
films of the shooting and knew Croy was not telling the truth.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did any one of these films that you watched show you reaching out and touching the coat of Ruby?
Mr. CROY. No; none that I saw.
In fact, as Ruby approached and shot Oswald, Croy cannot be seen anywhere in the film clips. It appears that as Ruby was approaching Oswald, Croy stood back from the action and quickly left the scene.
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 charge of this "special squad" was none other than 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. I further speculate that Sgt. Croy waited for Ruby to arrive, gave him access to the basement in police headquarters, stood quietly next to Ruby when waiting for Oswald to appear, and then quickly left the scene after 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. They arrived between 1:05-1:07 PM, and HARVEY Oswald
left his dark colored coat in the car (found 3 weeks later in the
Domino room at the TSBD). Westbrook and Croy then drove thru the alley,
crossed Patton St., and 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 Eisenhower-type 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 (circa 1:20 PM) he drove his unmarked squad car, with passengers
Sgt. Stringer and news reporter Jim Ewell, from the Book Depository to
Jefferson Blvd. After Stringer and Ewell got out of the car, Capt.
Westbrook likely drove to the parking lot behind the Texaco station and
planted LEE Oswald's jacket under a 1954 Oldsmobile. Westbrook soon
"discovered" the jacket and 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 HARVEY 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 Westbdook left the theater, he
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.