Grave Doubts: A Report on the Exhumation and Autopsy of the Remains of Lee Harvey Oswald ================================ Copyright (C) 1992 by M. Duke Lane -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- [This text may be reproduced in any form provided only that it is not sold or published in any fee- or subscription-based publication.] -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- In the nearly thirty years since JFK was killed in Dallas' Dealey Plaza, there have been many mysterious and sinister rumors which have circulated about this case. Not all of these have been proven correct or are substantiated by evidence, but it remains that if told often enough by enough people, such rumors often come to be accepted as "fact" by many of the people following the progress of the assassination investigation. This is especially true of allegations which appear in print in multiple authors' works. One of the rumors which sprang up some time ago surrounds the exhumation of LHO's body from its grave at Rosehill Cemetery in Fort Worth, TX. Apparently, this rumor began with a statement by the mortician who had attended to LHO's body prior to its burial. The mortician had stated following the exhumation that the cement burial vault had been found "broken open" when the exhumation began and that, moreover, LHO's skull not only didn't show evidence of a craniotomy (cutting of the skull bones to facilitate examination of the brain during autopsy), and the head was discovered severed from the body upon exhumation. This of course led to speculation that sometime between when LHO was buried) and when his body was exhumed for examination, the casket was dug up and the head of the accused assassin replaced with that of the "real" LHO, who'd in actuality had nothing to do with the assassination at all. This supposedly resulted in extensive damage to the cement-and-steel burial vault, which was said to have been "broken open " on disinterrment. This "planted head" (no pun intended) scenario leads us to believe that the conspirators were so meticulous and omniscient that no detail escaped them, not even the far-off contingency that someday, someone would want to exhume the accused assassin's body to identify it by dental examination. It ascribes to them such dark powers as the ability to dig up the grave at some unspecified date unnoticed by anyone including Rosehill groundskeepers. It implicates Fort Worth and Rosehill Cemetery officials and the exhumation examiners as being witting or unwitting co-conspirators, "part of the cover-up" by accident or design. There are enough strange goings-on, enough lies and obfuscations, enough unanswered questions about the JFK assassination without adding the improbable and unsubstatiated, into which categorization this scenario must certainly fall. It is preposterous and the facts simply do not bear out the theory, as the following discussion will show. Background ---------- Before examining the exhumation and autopsy itself, let us first review the background against which this scenario is set. Who wanted LHO's body exhumed in the first place and why? What were the circumstances which led up to the exhumation? In 1977, British author published a book[1] alleging that a look-alike Russian agent, who had been the real assassin, had been buried in LHO's place. To prove this theory, Eddowes entered into a series of legal wranglings which eventually included the Tarrant and Dallas County Medical Examiners' offices, Marina Oswald Porter, Lee's brother Robert Oswald, and at least two courts. Perhaps typically, the Medical Examiners couldn't agree who held jurisdiction over the matter (LHO was killed in Dallas County, but is buried in Tarrant County). Marina sided with Eddowes, although she in fact believed that the grave was empty. Robert wished to avoid the publicity he knew would arise from the exhumation, and managed to delay the exhumation for a little over a year. Finally, on October 3, 1981, the way was cleared for the exhumation and autopsy to take place. Marina refused to allow Lee's remains to leave the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the counties involved, citing "adverse publicity," refused to allow county facilities to be used for the examination. It had been decided earlier that the examination site must be able to be effectively secured against all intrusions; an additional consideration was the willingness of the staff to have their normal routine disrupted and deal with possible controversy that could be expected from a case of this nature. At last, permission was received from Baylor Hospital of Dallas' Department of Pathology to use their facility, where it was conducted the following day, October 4, 1981. The examination team was selected by Marina and Eddowes, and included two forensic pathologists and two forensic odontologists and their assistants[2]. All expenses were borne by Eddowes. Baylor accepted a nominal fee for the use of their facilities, and the doctors worked for expenses only due to the controversial nature of the case. At least one of the attorneys involved had received no compensation for his efforts as late as 1984. These facts are cited to allay any suspicions that the examination team was chosen by anyone but those closest to the case, and that none of the participants were involved for personal enrichment. It can be easily asserted that there was no "outside direction" or "ulterior motives" involved in this endeavor: it was 100% above-board. The Exhumation -------------- Originally, it was planned to remove both the casket and cement burial vault intact, to transport them to the vault company to be opened, and then to proceed to Baylor. The doctors' report[3]--from which this information is largely drawn--notes that backhoes began work shortly after dawn and worked as speedily as safe and possible for better security and to allow the cemetery to open for regular visitation as soon as possible. Even despite the early hour, a small crowd had gathered at Rosehill Cemetery. When the vault was exposed, it was immediately noted to be cracked--not "broken open" as later reports had it. The plan to transport the intact vault and casket was abandoned, and workers removed the lid of the concrete vault, finding the casket to be severely water damaged. It is noted in the report that "the cover was weak in many areas, and in one place had caved in partially exposing the remains." So much, one would have to admit, for the "high-grade, steel-reinforced vault" described by the mortician! By the time the casket had been removed and placed in a waiting hearse at 9:00 am, a large crowd of spectators and news media representatives had gathered. Concerns about security were relieved that these onlookers assumed that the body would be taken to the Dallas Institute of Forensic Science (at Parkland Hospital, a county facility which, as was noted earlier, could not be used), and the casket was able to be offloaded at Baylor without incident. It was taken into an examination room that had only one doorway, and to enter that room, one must have walked throught two anterooms. It was, by any standard, a secure examination site; there was no possibility of interference or shenanigans. The Examination --------------- LHO's remains arrived at Baylor at 9:20 am, shortly after departing Rosehill Cemetery. Security, as already noted, was of paramount importance, especially to Marina who was concerned about publication of unauthorized publication of photographs as had occurred earlier. The autopsy team was directed to take only close-up documentary photographs as necessary to complete and verify their identification of the body. Even still, a family friend videotaped the entire proceeding (the tape has never surfaced). Security was handled by a private agency chosen by the attorneys. The examination was not able to be compromised in any way, and was totally under the control of the principal parties. Lest there be any doubt remaining about the integrity and security of the examination, members of the news media were totally excluded from the proceeding with the exception of one UPI reporter who was allowed only so far as the anteroom (by agreement with the attorneys). The only persons present during the proceedings were the four members of the examination team, assisted by one pathology technician and one dental radiology technician. The head of the Baylor pathology department and his chief associate helped with the Baylor equipment, and a court reporter recorded the proceedings. Also present were attorneys for Eddowes, Marina Porter, Robert Oswald and Rosehill Cemetery, and the aforementioned family friend taping the proceeding. But wait! What about the mortician? Wasn't he there? After all, he is the one who told us about the severed head, the lack of a craniotomy, the one who stirred the dark seeds of mystery and conspiracy for all the world to ponder. Isn't he mentioned anywhere? In point of fact, he is. The doctors' report devotes an entire sentence to this man: "The mortician who closed Mr. Oswald's casket remained in the room until the casket was re-opened" [emphasis added]. It is implicit in this statement that, upon the opening of the casket (which we will speculate included his identification of the remains as being dressed as the body he buried in 1963), he left the room. This means that he was not present during the medical or dental examinations, would not have seen a "severed head," and most certainly did not witness the condition of the skull, least of all in the detail he claims! It would be possible to end the discussion here, for unless the doctors, author Eddowes, Marina Oswald Porter, Robert Oswald and their respective attorneys are all "part of the plot," we have seen conclusively that the story told by the mortician is pure fabrication, that he did not in fact witness the examination and was not in a position to make the observations he claimed and which were duly reported by "researchers." Certainly, there is nothing to be gained by describing the examination step by step, and in the interests of space and decency, I will decline to do so. It would be possible, except that in exposing the myth, it is important to also set the record straight, to air the true facts. I won't describe the condition of the body except to say that, considering the water damage to the casket, you can imagine that it was not well-preserved. The casket materials were largely rotted, the clothing was in various states of disintegration, but each could be reasonably easily identified (the report goes so far as to describe "a relatively intact pair of white with green diamond pattern boxer undershorts" on the body!). The body itself was "markedly decomposed," but in position suggestive of the "funeral photo" seen by many in various works on the case. LHO's gold wedding band and a "red stone ring" were on the little finger of his left hand (both were later identified by Marina as ones she had placed upon her husband's hand when he'd been buried 21 years before). The report specifically states that "the body as existed in the coffin showed no evidence of mutilation other than postmortem disintegration," [emphasis added] meaning very simply that the head was not severed prior to the examination, and it was not replaced by a person or persons unknown operating mysteriously in the dead of night. So what about the "severed head?" Again the report is explicit: "The head was removed from the remainder of the body by incision of the mummified soft tissue maintaining the skull, cervical and thoracic vertebral column in normal continuity." Note the words "incision of the mummified soft tissue." Clearly, the doctors are describing the corpse which they were examining, stating that they severed the head; they'd already confirmed that there was "no evidence of mutilation," and also that everything was "in normal continuity." Not words which would describe a head being chopped off of a buried man and replaced by a free-standing skull of another man. The head was removed from the corpse for one very simple reason: the body was in sufficiently poor condition that the doctors did not wish to move it any more than absolutely necessary. In fact, they limited their examination to the anterior (front) not wishing to risk any greater damage to the body than was required for their examination. What about the missing craniotomy cuts? Again, the report: "A previous autopsy saw cut in the usual fashion was present on the calvarium with an anterior inverted V-notch in the right frontal region." In short, it was not missing. The report does indicate that "the previously sawed calvarium was not separated nor was it easily dislodged;" the team did not make any further attempts to satisfy themselves that this was authentic since their purpose was to conduct a dental examination of the deceased Oswald, not to perform a complete post-mortem autopsy. The team continued with its dental examination using LHO's Marine dental records and satisfied themselves--the report goes into great detail about the teeth and their comparison to the 1956 dental records--that the body in the coffin was indeed that of LHO. "Positive dental identification was made," and was duly reported at a 3:00 news conference held at Baylor Medical Center by the examination team. "The remains in the grave marked as Lee Harvey Oswald are indeed Lee Harvey Oswald," they said. The news conference was held just as the remains of Lee Oswald were being transported back to Rosehill Cemetery for reinterment in a new casket and vault. The historical medical record directly opposes the claims made by the mortician, and completely debunks the myth of the severed head. We can only speculate upon the motivations of the mortician--who, throughout this article has remained deliberately unnamed--for making these claims. That they were repeated in print and lectures so many times and for so long, tending to establish the claims as "fact," demonstrates the lack of research which has gone into many books, and the reliance that the public has upon the "authorities" on the Kennedy assassination to learn the truth of this event. Hopefully, this discussion will lead readers to not accept everything that they read as gospel, and to occasionally question the "authorities" when their claims are as strange and ominous this was. No matter the perspective one adopts, it is always good to remember the ancient axiom: "Not is all as it seems to be." This was yet another case in support of it. END NOTES --------- 1. Eddowes, Michael, The Oswald File, Clarkson N. Potter, New York, 1977 2. The examination team consisted of Linda E. Norton, MD, the team's chief forensic pathologist and former Dallas County Medical Examiner; James A. Cottone, DMD, MS, Associate Professor and head of the Section of Forensic Odontology, Department of Dental Diagnostic Science, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School; Irvin M. Sopher, DDS, MD, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of West Virginia, South Charleston, WV and clinical professor of pathology, West Virginia University School of Medicine and Marshall University School of Medicine; and Vincent J. M. DiMaio, MD, Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner, San Antonio, TX. 3. Norton, et al, "The Exhumation and Identification of Lee Harvey Oswald," Journal of Forensic Sciences, Official Publication of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (JFSCA), Volume 29, Number 1, January 1984, pp 19-38.