THE TIPPIT MURDER:
THE BULLETS AND THE BULLET SHELLS....
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It's quite possible that there was a fifth (missed) shot fired by Lee
Oswald at the Tippit murder scene on Tenth Street in Oak Cliff/Dallas
on 11/22/63 -- with one of the five bullets never being recovered by
anyone (be it the police or anyone else). [More discussion on that topic HERE.]
Witness Ted Callaway always maintained he heard FIVE shots fired, not
just four. Within Callaway's 1964 Warren Commission testimony, we find
this:
MR. CALLAWAY -- "I heard what sounded to me like five pistol shots."
MR. BALL -- "Five pistol shots?"
MR. CALLAWAY -- "Five shots; yes, sir."
http://jfk-assassination.net/russ/testimony/callaway1.htm
~~~~~~~~
Other witnesses also said that the number of shots they heard could
possibly have exceeded four, including Warren Reynolds.....
MR. LIEBELER -- "How many shots did you hear?"
MR. REYNOLDS -- "I really have no idea, to be honest with you. I would
say four or five or six. I just would have no idea. I heard one, and
then I heard a succession of some more."
http://jfk-assassination.net/russ/testimony/reynolds.htm
~~~~~~~~
To be fair here, there were several witnesses who only heard three
gunshots being fired at Officer Tippit, which we know is wrong, based
on the fact that four bullets were recovered from Tippit's body after
the shooting. So earwitness testimony like this must always be taken
with a large grain of salt.
But in addition to the earwitness accounts of the shooting, it's also
possible that the father-in-law of Tippit witness Barbara Davis might
have picked up a fifth bullet shell from the front or side yard of the
Davis property sometime after the shooting on November 22, 1963.
On Page #272 of Dale Myers' 1998 authoritative book on the Tippit
murder ("With Malice"), the following passage can be found:
"In 1996, eyewitness Barbara J. Davis mentioned that she found a shell
like those she and Virginia [Davis] recovered the day of the [Tippit]
murder among the possessions of her father-in-law, Louis Davis.
'He was staying with Virginia at the time of the shooting,' Barbara
remembered. 'A short time after the murder, he mentioned to my husband
that he had found a shell. But, he never showed it to me and I didn't
pay too much attention, because he was kind of a peddler, a junk man,
you know.'
Virginia Davis confirmed the story, adding that the elder Davis had
found the shell the day of the shooting, but wanted to hang on to it
for a 'keepsake'."
~~~~~~~~
Also -- The pro-conspiracy argument that there must have been more
than one gun involved in J.D. Tippit's murder because multiple types
of ammunition were recovered from Tippit's body is simply a very weak
argument -- because such an argument totally ignores the fact that Lee
Harvey Oswald's gun, when he was arrested, was loaded with BOTH types
of bullets that were dug out of Officer Tippit's body.*
* = And if that little tidbit of info isn't an additional decent-sized
reason to point an accusing finger of guilt at Lee Harvey Oswald with
respect to Tippit's murder, then I don't know what would be. And this
would be apart from the known fact that the four bullet shells that
were found in the Davis' yard were conclusively linked to Oswald's
revolver (a gun that Oswald had ON HIM when arrested inside the Texas
Theater).
Just consider the following four items for a moment and then add them
up (with a dose of common sense sprinkled in as well):
1.) Multiple bullet shells found near the Tippit murder scene were
traced to Oswald's gun (a gun Oswald himself was carrying just 35
minutes after the murder of Officer Tippit).
2.) The slugs pulled from Officer Tippit's body were a COMBINATION of
Winchester-Western bullets and Remington-Peters bullets.
3.) The spent cartridge cases found at the Tippit murder scene were a
COMBINATION of Winchester-Western cartridge cases and Remington-Peters
cartridge cases.
4.) The six unfired bullets found in Lee Harvey Oswald's gun (which he
was carrying and attempting to use on the arresting police officers
when he was apprehended in the theater) were a COMBINATION of
Winchester-Western bullets and Remington-Peters bullets (exactly three
of each type).
~~~~~~~~
I wonder if anyone can provide the odds of the above four things
occurring and yet also having Lee Oswald, somehow, remaining
completely innocent of killing Officer J.D. Tippit?
Do conspiracy believers look upon the "Combination of Winchester and
Remington" bullet evidence as yet another in an amazing series of
"coincidences" that links an innocent "Patsy" named Oswald to J.D.
Tippit's murder?
Or were those plotters who were supposedly framing Oswald so good that
they knew to shoot Tippit with the exact same types of ammunition that
Oswald just happened to have in his gun on the afternoon of 11/22/63?
Plus -- Joseph D. Nicol, who was one of nine ballistics experts to
examine the bullets taken from Tippit's body, said that one of the
four bullets inside Tippit could, indeed, be conclusively linked to
Oswald's gun "to the exclusion".....
MR. EISENBERG -- "Mr. Nicol, I hand you a group of four bullets marked
Commission Exhibits 602, 603, 604, and 605, which I state for the
record were recovered from the body of Officer Tippit, and a group of
two bullets marked Commission Exhibit 606, which I state for the
record were fired by the FBI through the revolver, Commission Exhibit
143."
http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0148b.htm
MR. EISENBERG -- "Did you examine Exhibits 602 through 605 to
determine whether they have been fired from the same weapon as fired
606?"
MR. NICOL -- "Yes, I did."
MR. EISENBERG -- "What was your conclusion?"
MR. NICOL -- "Due to mutilation, I was not able to determine whether
605, 604, and 602 were fired in the same weapon. There were similarity
of class characteristics--that is to say, there is nothing evident
that would exclude the weapon. However, due to mutilation and apparent
variance between the size of the barrel and the size of the
projectile, the reproduction of individual characteristics was not
good, and therefore I was unable to arrive at a conclusion beyond that
of saying that the few lines that were found would indicate a modest
possibility. But I would not by any means say that I could be
positive. However, on specimen 602--I'm sorry--603, which I have
designated as Q-502, I found sufficient individual characteristics to
lead me to the conclusion that that projectile was fired in the same
weapon that fired the projectiles in 606."
MR. EISENBERG -- "That is to the exclusion of all other weapons?"
MR. NICOL -- "Yes, sir."
MR. EISENBERG -- "By the way, on the cartridge cases, that was also to
the exclusion of all other weapons?"
MR. NICOL -- "Correct."
http://jfk-assassination.net/russ/testimony/nicol.htm
~~~~~~~~
Another grain of salt is required, however, when talking about Mr.
Nicol's testimony re. the Tippit bullets, since the other eight
experts who looked at the bullets did not agree with Nicol with
respect to his "to the exclusion" conclusion.
But the bullet shells found at 10th & Patton WERE positively tied to
Lee Oswald's .38 revolver beyond any and all doubt (even if CTers want
to disregard the two "Poe" shells). The other two shells have an
undeniably-clear chain of custody, even per most conspiracy theorists,
who love to argue about the legitimacy of the Poe shells.
And the above arguments in favor of Oswald's guilt don't even begin to
touch on some of the VERY BEST evidence in the whole case that says
Oswald is guilty -- that being the multiple witnesses who positively
identified Lee Harvey Oswald as Officer Tippit's lone killer.
When you add that last point into the mix, in addition to the four
ballistics-related points mentioned above, there is simply NO possible
way in this world that Lee Harvey Oswald could be innocent of
murdering Patrolman J.D. Tippit on November the 22nd, 1963. None!
David Von Pein
June 2005
April 2006
March 2007
LINK TO ORIGINAL POST (MARCH 24, 2007)
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ADDENDUM #1:
A CONSPIRACY THEORIST SAID:
The evidence that Oswald murdered Tippit is unconvincing.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
You're not likely to find a sillier statement than the one quoted above. And that's because the evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered J.D. Tippit is rock-solid and conclusive. Any prosecutor could have phoned in his case against Oswald.
And what makes Oswald's guilt in the Tippit murder EXTRA convincing (vs. "unconvincing") is the fact that there are multiple types of evidence to convict him -- including direct (eyewitness) testimony which corroborates and buttresses the physical evidence left behind by Oswald at the scene of the crime (i.e., the eyewitnesses fingered OSWALD -- and the bullet shells found at the crime scene were fired in OSWALD'S revolver -- and OSWALD himself had the murder weapon in his own hands just 35 minutes after Tippit was killed, with OSWALD himself acting like a very guilty man in the theater).
The melding together of that much eyewitness testimony, circumstantial evidence, and physical evidence (the bullet shells on Tenth Street) doesn't occur in a great number of murder cases. But in the Tippit case, it did occur. And Oswald was nice enough to KEEP THE MURDER WEAPON IN HIS POSSESSION right after the crime too, which is a huge asset when it comes to solving the murder of Officer Tippit.
The only possible way for Oswald to be innocent of Tippit's murder is if LHO's identical twin had actually shot Tippit with LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S gun, and then the identical twin (or exact look-alike) was somehow able to get Oswald himself to take possession of Revolver V510210 prior to his arrest in the Texas Theater.
And even that ridiculous scenario wouldn't really explain why Oswald, just thirty-five minutes after J.D. Tippit had been shot with LHO's Smith & Wesson revolver, was behaving like a very guilty person when the police approached him inside the Texas Theater on November 22, 1963.
Conspiracy theorists are experts at making up excuses to EXPLAIN AWAY all the evidence that exists against Lee Harvey Oswald in both the JFK and Tippit murder cases. But unless the CTers really want to believe that all of the eyewitnesses who identified Oswald were totally wrong AND that all of the physical evidence in the Tippit case was manufactured by the authorities to frame a man named Lee Oswald, then the conspiracy theorists really have nowhere to go with their persistent arguments that Oswald was innocent of killing J.D. Tippit.*
* = Unless the conspiracists actually want to accept the tongue-in-cheek theory proposed above about LHO's look-alike shoving the murder weapon into Oswald's hands immediately after the crime was committed. And I doubt even the wackiest of conspiracy buffs would have a desire to sink THAT deep into their bin of conspiracy nonsense. (Would they?)
David Von Pein
January 10, 2012
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ADDENDUM #2:
A CONSPIRACY THEORIST NAMED WALT SAID:
Name ONE piece of evidence that you think is "rock solid" as evidence that Lee [Oswald] murdered JD Tippit. Let's examine it and see how solid it is.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
I'll name fifteen:
1.) The bullet shell found by Barbara Davis in her side yard (which has a chain of custody that even most conspiracy kooks don't gripe about).
2.) The bullet shell found by Virginia Davis in her side yard (which has a chain of custody that even most conspiracy kooks don't gripe about).
3.) Commission Exhibit No. 603, which is one of the four bullets removed from J.D. Tippit's body. According to Illinois firearms expert Joseph D. Nicol, that particular bullet (CE603) positively came out of Lee Harvey Oswald's Smith & Wesson revolver.
Quoting Nicol --- "On specimen...[CE] 603...I found sufficient individual characteristics to lead me to the conclusion that that projectile was fired in the same weapon that fired the projectiles in 606."
4.) William Scoggins positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the one and only gunman he saw leaving the scene of Officer Tippit's murder.
5.) Ted Callaway positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman he saw leaving the scene of Officer Tippit's murder.
6.) Sam Guinyard positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman he saw leaving the scene of Officer Tippit's murder.
7.) Barbara Davis positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman she saw dumping bullet shells out of a gun as he cut across her yard immediately after Tippit was shot.
8.) Virginia Davis positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman she saw leaving the scene of Tippit's murder on 11/22/63. Virginia Davis, just like Barbara Davis, witnessed Oswald emptying shells out of his gun as he cut through her yard at the corner of Tenth Street and Patton Avenue.
9.) B.M. Patterson positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman he saw leaving the scene of Officer Tippit's murder.
10.) Helen Markham positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the one and only gunman she saw shoot J.D. Tippit on 11/22/63.
(If needed, I can also add a few more witnesses to this list who positively identified Oswald as he fled the general area of the Tippit murder.)
11.) When arrested in the Texas Theater just 35 minutes after Tippit was killed, Lee Harvey Oswald exhibited behavior that can only be interpreted as the behavior of a person who was guilty of some type of crime. This behavior included pulling a gun on the arresting officer, striking the arresting officer in the face, and uttering one or two verbal statements that reek with guilt. Those statements being "This is it" and/or "It's all over now".
12.) At approximately 1:36 PM CST on 11/22/63, which was approximately 20 to 22 minutes after Officer Tippit had been shot, Lee Harvey Oswald was seen by Johnny Brewer in front of the Hardy's Shoe Store on Jefferson Boulevard, a short distance from the scene of Tippit's murder. Brewer, in his 12/6/63 sworn affidavit, said that Oswald "acted as if he was scared" as he stood in front of the shoe store.
13.) After he was apprehended, Oswald lied to the police when he told them that he had purchased his revolver in Fort Worth, Texas. The police would later learn that Oswald had actually obtained the gun from a Los Angeles, California, mail-order company.
This 13th item, Oswald's blatant and easily provable lie about where he bought the gun, is very powerful "consciousness of guilt" circumstantial evidence. If LHO had been innocent of shooting anyone with that particular Smith & Wesson revolver, then logically he would have had no reason whatsoever to lie to the police about where he purchased that gun.
Oswald, quite obviously, was attempting to distance himself as much as he could from the Tippit murder weapon--even though he knew that he was caught with that murder weapon in his own hands when he was arrested.
I'll end my list with two items that don't prove Lee Oswald shot Officer Tippit, but these things certainly do lead in that direction:
14.) Both shortly before and shortly after J.D. Tippit was shot on Tenth Street in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff, Lee Harvey Oswald was seen (on foot) in Oak Cliff. Oswald, shortly before Tippit was murdered, was seen by Earlene Roberts as he quickly left his roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. And he was seen (again on foot) by Johnny Brewer on Jefferson Boulevard less than 25 minutes after Tippit was killed.
Brewer told the Warren Commission that Oswald "looked funny to me". Brewer also said that Oswald's "hair was sort of messed up and [he] looked like he had been running, and he looked scared." (7 H 4)
Lee Harvey Oswald just being in the general area of the Tippit murder both shortly BEFORE and just AFTER Tippit was shot is evidence that deserves to be considered very heavily. And the fact that Oswald was carrying a gun during this same period also must be factored into the overall weighing of the evidence too.
Add to this the fact that the gun Oswald was carrying in Oak Cliff on November 22, 1963, was determined by firearms experts to positively be the gun that ended the life of Officer J.D. Tippit. That fact, all by itself, pretty much seals the deal. Oswald shot Tippit. There's no doubt about it.
15.) It is also known that Lee Harvey Oswald ran into the Texas Theater without buying a movie ticket. That fact, of course, does not prove LHO shot anybody, but it certainly indicates that Oswald was very anxious to get inside that darkened movie theater just a half-hour after a policeman was killed nearby.
For, if he had not just done something that required him to get off the street very quickly, then why wouldn't he pay for his movie ticket at the box office? He had more than $13 in his pocket, so we know he could have paid for a ticket if he had wanted to do so.
This act of ducking into the theater without purchasing a ticket is another circumstantial piece of evidence that must be considered and weighed when trying to determine whether or not Oswald shot Officer Tippit. And such an act on Oswald's part, occurring less than half-an-hour after Tippit was slain, is certainly an act that leads more toward "guilt" than it does "innocence" (especially when weighed in conjunction with items 1 through 14 above).
David Von Pein
January 10, 2012
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ADDENDUM #3:
WALT CAKEBREAD SAID:
This utterly ridiculous statement is the product of a warped brain. The author bases his statement on his imagination.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Quite the contrary, Mr. Cakebread. The "warped brain" is possessed by the conspiracy theorists who are constantly bending over backwards in order to pretend that virtually all of the evidence that hangs Mr. Oswald is tainted or fraudulent---without a bit of proof to show that any of it was actually faked. A CTer's suspicions about the evidence is more than enough "proof" for them.
In reality, of course, my 2013 statement concerning Oswald and the Tippit murder is a perfectly accurate quote given the sum total of the evidence as it exists in the Tippit case.
Regarding some of the physical evidence in the Tippit case....
There's absolutely nothing "tainted" or "suspicious" when it comes to the two bullet shells found by Barbara and Virginia Davis in their side yard on 11/22/63. There's a clear and distinct chain of possession for each of those shell casings—
going from each Davis girl straight into the hands of two different Dallas Police Department officers.
Oh, yes, I expect Walter Cakebread to storm back into this discussion very shortly and argue that he knows for a fact that the DPD markings that exist on the two bullet shells found by the Davis girls—those being the markings put there by Detective C.N. Dhority and Crime Lab Captain George M. Doughty (one bullet shell each)—are in some fashion fraudulent, manufactured, or fake, and therefore should be discarded as "real" evidence in the J.D. Tippit murder investigation. But a conspiracy theorist's suspicions about those two shells do not add up to anything even remotely resembling "proof" that the shells are not legitimate evidence.
And I suppose that Walt will also argue that the following two excerpts from the FBI report found on pages 414 and 415 of Warren Commission Volume 24 are nothing but lies as well:
"On June 12, 1964, four .38 Special cartridge cases...were shown to Captain G.M. Doughty of the Dallas Police Department. .... Captain Doughty identified his marking on one of these cases. .... Captain Doughty stated this is the same shell which he obtained from Barbara Jeanette Davis at Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963." -- CE2011; Page 7
"On June 12, 1964, the same four cartridge cases...were shown by Special Agent Bardwell D. Odum to Detective C.N. Dhority, Homicide Division, Dallas Police Department. .... Detective Dhority identified his marking on one of these cartridge cases. .... He stated this is the same cartridge case which he obtained from Virginia Davis, Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963." -- CE2011; Page 8
(Also see Pages 266-269 of Dale Myers' book "With Malice"; 1998 Edition.)
OTTO BECK SAID:
You can beat Walt to it and tell us what mark Dhority put on the shell.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Don't know. The markings on the shell are not clear enough to discern when looking at the series of three pictures of the shell which were photographed by Dale Myers and published on page 268 of "With Malice" (1998 Edition).
But the markings were discernible to Dhority himself in June of '64 when he positively IDed the shell as the one he marked on 11/22/63....
"Detective Dhority identified his marking on one of these cartridge cases. .... He stated this is the same cartridge case which he obtained from Virginia Davis...on November 22, 1963." -- CD1258, p.8 and CE2011, p.8 [http://maryferrell.org/Doc=11653]
David Von Pein
September 26-27, 2021
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RELATED LINKS:
http://alt.conspiracy.jfk/Oswald-Tippit Discussion
http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/The Tippit Murder