Use Your Special Abilities To Help the Grieving

 

Remembering is easy, but missing is heartbreaking, wrote a friend who lost her mother.

 

One thing that helps right away is the various faiths that sustain us as we gather to celebrate the life of the deceased at the visitation and service.

 

It is hard to go back to life and work when your attention span is measured in seconds. Time freezes. Restlessness and anxiety are constant companions. Rainy days are more dreary. Sunny days are an outrage. Laughing people are out of place in your world. Loss is ghastly, engulfing and shakes your day. You may be enveloped in grief, maybe feeling like a blob. Other words are gutted, disrupted, foggy, tortured, “suffocated” and having an aching emptiness.

 

You are always in grief's presence. Your “absence” still “walks through the door” every single day. But you can strive to become an intentional survivor and not a hapless victim. Seek help, reach out to others, set a goal, lament without shame, live your loss. Take it slowly. Take one more step. Take another step, said Tim Russert’s book about his father. Death is like mud; it’s dirty, messy and incredibly tough to walk through, but surprisingly, it holds vital ingredients to life, and when seeds are planted, it can help sprout new life. The Lord giveth and taketh. Dead leaves fall; new leaves grow.

 

Elizabeth Bernstein in the Wall Street Journal used the words shattered, unequipped and worthlessness for her grief. She suggested sticking to a routine or go the bearable moments route—an hour, half hour, five minutes, one minute. Give yourself permission to heal with prompts on sticky notes. Think of your quality time left—future--rather than the past. Read memoirs about grief, talk to friends who lost a parent or cuddle with a dog. Be the person you were taught to be: kind. You have to learn to comingle your pain with births and weddings you will attend. Loss has to integrate with living.

 

It seems the sorry window is never closed. Know that grief is unexpressed love. Erasure would be the outcome. Grief is: embracing or exclusion.

 

Do not suppress difficult emotions; they’ll only pop back up. Remaining silent is not an option. You don’t have to be “heroic.” Sometimes all grief stages blend together. You could get one stage one day and one the next. It is rough, but what a difference a day can make as you also have secondary losses such as income, family structure, lifestyle, past memories, support, future plans that were to be shared, identity and security.

 

Yell into your phone if you have to. Do a body scan while driving. Focus on your hands and how they feel on the wheel and how the air feels on your face. Quit doomscrolling. Instead, paint, scrapbook, knit, garden, cook, sing, decorate, organize, make something. Take a blank space and start writing.

 

One project is to draw a ring around a doodled person. Draw a larger ring around one close to them and so on. The one in the small ring can whine, complain, moan and say anything to the others. Speak only to larger rings. The goal is to help the small ring.

 

Boosting your optimism in a Wall Street Journal article says to create a positive mental TV channel that replays memories of pleasant episodes in your life. Call up your channel when you need a boost. Did something frustrate you? Write down three things that can help you see it more positively. Miss your train? Perhaps you got some exercise running to catch it.

 

Don’t assume grieving people are OK if they only post happy pictures on social media. They are not going to show you meltdowns, anxiety attacks or their upset stomach. They are hoping people don’t bolt from their lives. They are like a broken statue that can’t be glued together again. You don’t need to give them a lot of words, nor do they to you unless they want to. They may have no one to talk to when they are having a bad day so if they do, listen. Your presence is important for your friends where words fall short.

 

In “Dear Dana,” a friend lost her son and the author learned to avoid assuming anything, listened attentively and was present. Her hashtag while praying for her friend was #constant. I liked the line that said our lives are like a symphony. Sometimes you need the violins while other times only a tuba will do.

 

The Team Chase Foundation honors their son who died in a car accident. He never left home without a basketball. It was unimaginable pain. The foundation carries out good deeds. It allows him to be remembered. They’ve given out scholarships, provided funds for athletic camps, gave away basketballs, paid tolls for drivers, dropped a gift basket to a random new mom and passed out coffee gift cards to people on the street. They have round plastic discs with a QR code that can be scanned to record good deeds online. They have come from around the world. In Singapore, a person gave up his bus seat. In Florida, someone paid for groceries.

 

In her autobiography, Gov. Kristi Noem felt her world was shattering when she tragically lost her father. She was eight months pregnant, sitting in the same hospital where she was supposed to have attended a childbirth class that very same evening, preparing for a new life to enter the world. Instead, she was two floors down in the emergency room grieving for a life she didn’t think could ever be lost. It was very difficult for her, but now she is a governor. One of her favorite books is “Wolfpack.” “You were never Little Red Riding Hood. You were always the wolf,” it says. It talks about women having each other’s backs. You don’t always have to stay on the path. Take the microphone. Get the respect you’ve earned and give it to the pack, too.

 

Two sweet children’s books may offer help. My mom always kept the “Velveteen Rabbit” around. If a child loves a toy enough, it will become real. When I reread it (it's 100 this year), I loved this part: When you are real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. “What we over-love, we often over-grieve,” said Bishop Fulton Sheen. Grief is proportional to the love shared.

 

I also read “Invisible String.” Here is the synopsis. As long as love is in your heart, the invisible string will always be there. We are all connected by it. It can help comfort separation anxiety, loneliness and loss and explore unbreakable connections. It can be used in bereavement, in the military, at camp, funeral homes, prisons, among the recently divorced and at going away parties. It transcends time and space.

 

Those we love are always connected by heartstrings into infinity, said Terry Guillemets.

 

At initial bad news, you feel your heart drop. Half of my heart is gone, said Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was a school shooting victim. Your heart may feel like it’s in a tug-of-war. On Facebook, I saw a post that said it is odd that his heart failed him; he didn’t have any loving flaws. He carved his name on hearts, and now it’s on a tombstone.

 

I loved you your whole life, said another post. I will miss you the rest of mine. It was about a dog. Likely your pet is saying thanks for everything/I had a wonderful time.

 

“A Year of Playing Catch” by Ethan Bryan was a book given to a man whose son died in an automobile accident. He played catch with a different person for 365 days. It was a vehicle to open up about his son. Some came from as far as Israel.  The son was a complete joy, effortless to raise. He watched out for others. He would recognize if a classmate was having an off day and make sure they were all right. He had time for everybody. Ethan’s first catch was with the survivor of the car wreck. They threw the ball until they couldn’t see it anymore. Inclement weather would lead to a gym. Now people come to him and they are able to shoulder some of each other’s pain. Even though he was hurting, he could help. He said he was on a journey with no clear end.

 

Even though Mike Tyson said he could have gotten his gun and gone crazy after the death of his daughter, he said he had to act dignified, not psycho because others also lose kids.

 

No one is immune from grief. In “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” it was said even assholes have people who grieve for them. To some it may seem odd, but President Thomas Jefferson wrapped the last piece of his wife’s Martha’s handwriting in her hair and hid it in his writing desk.

 

Calvin Coolidge Jr., 16, played tennis in shoes without wearing socks. It led to an infected blister on his toe. He spiked a fever and had severe blood poisoning. July 4, 1924, was President Coolidge’s 52nd birthday, but his son was in Walter Reed Medical Center. Many Americans thought of Coolidge as the taciturn, expressionless, unemotional caricature in political cartoons and newspaper gossip, but in the day’s after Calvin Jr.’s death, everyone was stunned by the open demonstration of the President’s grief. When he received the bill for Calvin Jr.’s funeral services, the President refused to pay for several months, as if he was unable to come to terms with the fact that his son was gone. The President “lost his zest for living.”

 

David Jeremiah told a story about Speaker Sam Rayburn learning that the teen daughter of a reporter friend had died in a tragic accident. Early the very next morning, he knocked on the door. Rayburn asked if there was anything he could do.  His friend, shocked and grieving replied, “I don’t think there is anything you can do. We’re making all the arrangements.” “Well, have you had your coffee this morning?” Rayburn asked. “No. We haven’t had time” replied his friend. “Well,” the Speaker of the House replied, “I can at least make the coffee.” The friend knew Rayburn was supposed to be having breakfast at the White House.  “Well, I was, but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble, and I couldn’t come.” Rayburn canceled breakfast with the President of the United States to make coffee for his grieving friend. Could you be such a friend?

 

When he was just 22 years old, Bob Saget suffered a burst appendix that ended up being gangrenous and was removed. Tragically, Bob Saget lost two sisters, both at young ages. In 1984, his sister Andi died from a brain aneurysm when she was 35 years old. His other sister, Gay, died nine years later at 44 from an autoimmune disease. Three uncles died from heart attacks before they were 40. The star explained that this caused him to become "obsessed with death" from an early age, saying that comedy was a lifesaver for him early on. It pushed him harder to make people laugh. It was a defense mechanism and it truly helped him survive. It helped keep him mentally alive rather than letting adversity destroy him. Days after his mother gave birth to twins Robert and Faith in 1954, the hospital suffered an outbreak of dysentery, which infected their two newborns and proved to be fatal. Bob was born two years to the day after the twins, sharing their birthday. His parents named him Robert, which Saget reported he regarded as an honor. Saget cited his family's dark, twisted sense of humor as the thing that helped them survive these losses, and that death was a regular topic in their household.

 

A detective on a true crime show was wondering what is the best way to say dead. He didn’t have to. A mother asked, “You found her, didn’t you? She’s dead, isn’t she?”  An extra bouquet was carried at another daughter’s wedding and one put on the grave.

 

The Wall Street Journal had a lengthy article about altered lives after shootings. Some survivors discover purpose in helping others. Others fall into depression, anxiety and addiction. One said they kept thinking that at some point a certain anniversary would make her OK. Some suffer prolonged grief disorder. To this day, one writes her name, date of birth and mother's cell on her thigh and shoulder with a Sharpie when she leaves home just in case she falls victim. One cried when she saw a similar pair of corduroy pants like the ones she wore during the shooting she was in. Columbine High School removed Chinese food from the cafeteria because that was what was served the day of the shooting. The principal has a book, “They Call Me Mr. De.” In the first 10 years after the shooting, he was in six car accidents, always in April, the anniversary month. He finished out 15 years to fulfill a pledge to continue until every student in area schools had graduated since the shooting date. The Rebels Project is a support group for those affected.

 

As a community, El Paso painted rocks and used messages that said Faith and El Paso Strong after the Walmart shooting.

 

“Gone Too Soon” by Chris Daughtry says today could have been the day that you blow out your candles. Make a wish as you close your eyes. Today could have been the day everybody was laughing. Instead I just sit here and cry. Who would you be? What would you look like?

 

Michael Jackson has the song, too.  Here one day, gone one night. Like the loss of sunlight on a cloudy afternoon, gone too soon. Like a castle built upon a sandy beach, gone too soon.

 

It’s hard when young people die, but I like the fact that while many nursing homes have the funeral home enter through the back door, some do an honor walk. The staff forms a line along the walls to the entrance. This is honoring a deceased resident. This is embracing death. This is sacred.

 

Remember the promise of eternal life. Our heavenly reunion will last for eternity. Your loved one is in better hands. Eulogistically, recall an accolade, commendation, homage or tribute. Recall the moments when time stood still and everything was right, good, whole and wonderful.

 

A medical journal article suggests some doctors may want to write clinical obituaries (drafting informal summaries of benefits gained in the doctor-patient relationship to celebrate the patient’s life). I read of one doctor who tracks loss in medicine. On average, he lost a patient every six weeks since May 2015. He said guilt can be toxic or negative or lead to growth. It can motivate learning more to benefit patients.

 

Some say grief never gets better; you just handle it. It does get better.  You will probably become more compassionate toward the grieving. People have no idea the compassion the daily mail can bring—send a card or note to someone grieving.  Get rid of If-Onlys and Should-Have-Dones. No guilt trips!

 

Something that brings some joy to me is a car passing me on the road with a BSV license plate—my father’s initials. I think my father has turned up in the right place at the right time. I read where someone heard a flutter in the middle of the night and knew an angel was looking down. You come to the realization that “they can see us.”

 

Someone saw ladybugs while climbing a mountain he and his late friend used to scale. A lady noticed heart shapes after her son, 7, died. In leaves, puddles, rocks and clouds. In sea wood on a beach, she found a plastic heart. It looked like one of his old toys used in learning shapes and it fit in the exact slot when she took it home.

 

I watched a video from Plymouth Hall Museum. There were death knell codes back in the day, rung twice three times for a woman or three times three for a man. Then, the bell would toll one stroke for each year of the deceased’s life. Those listening and counting had a good idea of who was gone. Newspapers and telephones eventually made the death knell obsolete. Now with technology, Caitlin Abrams shares stories from cemeteries on TikTok. There is a TikTok video of ashes that spell “I heart u” in water.

 

Bells don’t ring anymore, but pay attention to the obituaries now. It may be someone you know and can assist the family in some way. Death is always going to be a part of your life. Do something.

 

One teen girl did 89 random acts of kindness for 18 months for her late great-grandmother who died at 89. She launched her plan at a McDonald's drive-thru, where she paid the $5 bill of the customer behind her. Other random acts: donating items to the Humane Society, hanging out with orphaned puppies there and “being a happy presence,” handing out smiley face stickers, putting out pools for people to take to keep dogs cool and there was one who helped a father who lost his newborn Photoshop the tubes out of the picture. Do you have such ability for a special idea, especially after initial grief support drops off?

 

 

 

 

Part II research from book

In 1984, Billie Sol Estes told a grand jury investigating the 1961 shooting death of Henry Marshall, an official with the Department of Agriculture, that Mac Wallace was his murderer. Estes, a long-time conman who served two prison terms for his crimes, said that Marshall possessed information linking Estes's fraudulent schemes to a heavily funded political slush fund run by LBJ. According to Estes, he and Johnson discussed the need to stop Marshall from making their illegal ties public. In exchange for immunity from prosecution, Estes was also prepared to provide the Department of Justice information of eight killings orchestrated by Johnson, including the assassination. He claimed that Wallace persuaded Jack Ruby to recruit Oswald and that Wallace fired a shot that struck Kennedy.

Barr McClellan, author of “Blood, Money & Power: How LBJ Killed JFK,” reiterated many of Estes's claims in 2003 stating that Johnson, Wallace, Estes and Cliff Carter were responsible for the death of Marshall. According to McClellan, Wallace fired one shot at Kennedy from the sixth floor then ran and escaped. He stated that fingerprints and an eyewitness placed Wallace in that location and that Wallace could be seen as a "shadowy figure" in photos of the building. In their 2003 obituary of Estes, the New York Times wrote that none of Estes's claims against LBJ were backed by evidence. McClellan was a lawyer with the law firm in Austin that handled LBJ's secret financial empire before and after he became president.

Marshall had been asked to investigate the activities of Billie Sol Estes and discovered that over a two-year period, Estes had purchased 3,200 acres of cotton allotments from 116 different farmers. Estes sent his lawyer, John P. Dennison, to meet Marshall in Robertson County. At the meeting in January 1961, Marshall told Dennison that Estes was clearly involved in a "scheme or device to buy allotments, and will not be approved, and prosecution will follow if this operation is ever used." Marshall was then offered a new post at headquarters. He assumed that Estes had friends in high places and that they wanted him removed from the field office in Robertson County. A week after the meeting between Marshall and Dennison, A. B. Foster, manager of Billie Sol Enterprises, wrote to Clifton C. Carter, a close aide to Johnson, telling him about the problems that Marshall was causing the company. On June 3, 1961, Marshall was found dead on his farm by the side of his Chevy Fleetside pickup truck. His rifle lay beside him. He had been shot five times with his own rifle. He had a lame arm. Soon after County Sheriff Howard Stegall arrived, he decreed that Marshall had committed suicide. No pictures were taken of the crime scene, no blood samples were taken of the stains on the truck (the truck was washed and waxed the following day), no check for fingerprints were made on the rifle or pickup. Marshall was beaten so badly one eyeball was hanging from its socket

Marshall's wife and brother refused to believe he had committed suicide and posted a $2,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction. The undertaker, Manley Jones, also reported: "To me it looked like murder. I just do not believe a man could shoot himself like that." The undertaker's son, Raymond Jones, later said his daddy said Judge Farmer told him he was going to put suicide on the death certificate because the sheriff told him to.

Sybil hired an attorney, W. S. Barron, in order to persuade the Robertson County authorities to change the ruling on Marshall's cause of death. One man who did believe that Marshall had been murdered was Texas Ranger Clint Peoples. He had reported to Col. Homer Garrison, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, that it "would have been utterly impossible for Mr. Marshall to have taken his own life." Peoples also interviewed Nolan Griffin, a gas station attendant in Robertson County. Griffin claimed that on the day of Marshall's death, he had been asked by a stranger for directions to Marshall's farm. A Texas Ranger artist, Thadd Johnson, drew a facial sketch based on a description given by Griffin. Peoples eventually came to the conclusion that this man was Wallace, the convicted murderer of John Kinser. In the spring of 1962, Estes was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on fraud and conspiracy charges. Soon afterwards it was disclosed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Orville L. Freeman, that Marshall had been a key figure in the investigation into the illegal activities of Estes. As a result, the Robertson County grand jury ordered that the body of Marshall should be exhumed and an autopsy performed. After eight hours of examination, Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk confirmed that Marshall had not committed suicide.

On April 4, 1962, George Krutilek, Estes’s chief accountant, was found dead. Despite a severe bruise on Krutilek's head, the coroner decided that he had also committed suicide. The next day, Estes, and three business associates, were indicted by a federal grand jury on 57 counts of fraud. Two of these men, Harold Orr and Coleman Wade, later died in suspicious circumstances. At the time it was said they committed suicide but later Estes was to claim that both men were murdered by Wallace in order to protect the political career of Johnson. It was eventually discovered that three officials of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in Washington had received bribes from Billie Sol Estes. Red Jacobs, Jim Ralph and Bill Morris were eventually removed from their jobs. However, further disclosures suggested that the Secretary of Agriculture might be involved in the scam. In September 1961, Billie Sol Estes had been fined $42,000 for illegal cotton allotments. Two months later, Freeman appointed Estes to the National Cotton Advisory Board.

Tommy G. McWilliams, the FBI agent in charge of the Marshall investigation, came to the conclusion that Marshall had indeed committed suicide. He wrote: "My theory was that he shot himself and then realized he wasn't dead." He then claimed that he then tried to kill himself by inhaling carbon monoxide from the exhaust pipe of his truck. McWilliams claimed that Marshall had used his shirt to make a hood over the exhaust pipe. Jachimczyk discovered a 15 percent carbon monoxide concentration in Marshall's body. Even J. Edgar Hoover was not impressed with this theory. He wrote on May 21, 1962: "I just can't understand how one can fire five shots at himself." The Robertson County grand jury continued to investigate the death of Marshall. However, some observers were disturbed by the news that grand jury member, Pryse Metcalfe, was dominating proceedings. Metcalfe was County Sheriff Howard Stegall's son-in-law. On June 1, 1962, the Dallas Morning News reported that Kennedy had "taken a personal interest in the mysterious death of Marshall. As a result, the story said, Robert Kennedy "has ordered the FBI to step up its investigation of the case." In June 1962, Billie Sol Estes, appeared before the grand jury. He was accompanied by John Cofer, a lawyer who represented Johnson when he was accused of ballot-rigging when elected to the Senate in 1948 and Mac Wallace when he was charged with the murder of John Kinser. Billie Sol Estes spent almost two hours before the grand jury, but he invoked the Texas version of the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer most questions on grounds that he might incriminate himself. Despite the evidence presented by Jachimczyk, the grand jury agreed with McWilliams. It ruled that after considering all the known evidence, the jury considers it "inconclusive to substantiate a definite decision at this time, or to overrule any decision heretofore made." Later, it was disclosed that some jury members believed that Marshall had been murdered. Ralph McKinney blamed Pryse Metcalfe for this decision. "Pryse was as strong in the support of the suicide verdict as anyone I have ever seen in my life, and I think he used every influence he possibly could against the members of the grand jury to be sure it came out with a suicide verdict."

Billie Sol Estes was released from prison in December 1983. Three months later he appeared before the Robertson County grand jury. He confessed that Marshall was murdered because it was feared he would "blow the whistle" on the cotton allotment scam. Billie Sol Estes claimed that Marshall was murdered on the orders of LBJ, who was afraid that his own role in this scam would become public knowledge. According to Estes, Clifton C. Carter, Johnson's long-term aide, had ordered Marshall to approve 138 cotton allotment transfers. Billie Sol Estes also told the grand jury that he met Carter and Wallace at his home in Pecos after Marshall was killed. Wallace described how he waited for Marshall at his farm. He planned to kill him and make it appear as if Marshall committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, Marshall fought back and he was forced to shoot him with his own rifle. He quoted Carter as saying that Wallace "sure did botch it up." Johnson was now forced to use his influence to get the authorities in Texas to cover up the murder.

The grand jury did change the verdict on the death of Marshall from suicide to death by gunshot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Killing Kennedy, new book by Jack Roth

At a recent JFK conference I attended, disturbing news regarding Dealey Plaza was discovered.. The city is planning to “renovate” it – meaning removing the picket fence, the grassy knoll and who knows what else, and replacing these markers of the assassination with something more acceptable to the city. We were told that the Dallas newspaper and The Sixth Floor Museum are pushing this idea. We see this as a move to begin removing any and all references to the assassination. Students (such as the ones who attended) or people new to the details of the assassination would not be able to see the terrain exactly as it was in 1963 and be able to make their own judgments about what happened there.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” -- Carl Sagan

Now for my notes on the new “Killing Kennedy” by Jack Roth. Everything you read is like a storm drain. One thing leads to more that goes down the drain. Most excellent book and what I learned:

Ever heard anyone say I’m a patsy? No. Oswald did because he was. Jim Garrison said he is the only assassin who hopped on public transportation to get away. Oswald didn’t have money to travel as alluded.

Bullets over ballots could be a theme. The shots didn’t come from the grassy knoll. They came from the Pentagon. The assassination is not a stand-alone thing that happened on 11/22/63. Leaders didn’t suddenly become corrupt that day. It’s standard operating procedure. Governments are corrupt. Ninety percent believe there was a conspiracy. The other 10 percent work in the government and the media. Reporter Jim Koethe was killed with karate chop to the throat as he came out of the shower. It’s safe to say that is the only death of its kind. One of the chapters was from someone who examined backgrounds of politicians, celebs and business leaders and in almost every case the overwhelming majority of them were popular in high school. They played a sport. People who run things in high school go on to run society. That’s why they have a vested interest in social hierarchy because it has served them well.

Dave Morales, CIA--file has been sanitized. X-rays of JFK are copies.

Who controlled Texas? Some of the occupants of the TSBD included right-wingers like the Byrd family. They owned a lot of land in Dallas and were good friends with LBJ. You can see pictures of them at football games. Bill Shelley, Oswald’s supervisor at the TSBD was CIA. He had connections to anti-Communism groups. Dulles was fired but operated behind the scenes. LBJ put him on the Warren Commission so he is controlling the evidence after the assassination.

Josepha Johnson, LBJ’s sister, died mysteriously on Christmas Eve 1961. They had a party that night and Mac Wallace was there. She was found dead the next day. The coroner called it natural without examining over the phone. She was buried the next day. Wallace’s fingerprints were said to be found in the TSBD and he was said to be a good shot. And he practiced. Johnson was involved in murders back to 1951. The first was John Douglas Kinser. He took a liking to Josepha as well as Mac’s wife. Mac was at the Department of Ag in Washington as an economist. The job was arranged by LBJ. There was a menage a trois. Mac’s wife was said to be bisexual. Immediately after the first shot at Kinser, one golfer outside the clubhouse observed a man inside holding a revolver. Three golfers on the course observed the man running from the clubhouse and getting into his car, and one of them noted the car's make and license plate number. Three patrolmen with the Texas Highway Patrol stopped the car nine miles from Austin on the Burnet Highway. According to one of the patrolmen, the driver perfectly fit the description provided by the golfers and his shirt was torn and bloodied. The suspect and witness were taken to the headquarters of the Austin Police Department for questioning. Wallace was identified as the man leaving the scene with a snubnosed pistol, and three bullet shells were found near Kinser's body. Detectives revealed no motive in the killing as Wallace refused to answer their questions. He was charged the following day with murder and the justice of the peace set bail at $30,000. Two days after the killing, the district attorney accused the local sheriff of "obstructing the investigation" stating that he had refused to transport Wallace to the Texas Department of Public Safety for identification testing. According to the sheriff, Wallace protested the move and his defense attorney, Polk Shelton, had asked that Wallace not be moved. Wallace was represented at the trial by John Cofer, longtime lawyer to Johnson, who had also represented LBJ during his contested election to the United States Senate in 1948 that was tainted by allegations of voter fraud. A paraffin test on Wallace's hands tested positive for gunshot residue and that blood on his shirt matched blood found at the club house at the golf course. The prosecution did not attempt to establish a motive for the shooting, nor did it produce an eyewitness to it or the murder weapon. The following day, the prosecution and defense completed their closing arguments and the jury was charged that afternoon. After deliberating into the evening, the jury was sequestered. After listening to 29.5 hours of testimony from 23 different witnesses, on Feb. 27 the jury returned its verdict finding Wallace guilty of "murder with malice." He was sentenced to five years --suspended. Questioned as to why the prosecution did not attempt to provide a motive, Shelton stated that they were not required to establish a motive but it was "probably because they couldn't." On Jan. 7, 1971, Wallace died when his car ran off the road 3.5 miles south of Pittsburg, Texas, on U.S. Route 271. Noting that the highway was neither icy nor wet, the investigating patrolman stated that Wallace had struck a bridge abutment after apparently losing control of his car.

A number of authors claim Wallace was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy upon orders from then-VP Johnson.

LBJ was manic depressive. He would stay in bed for days. He described it as being in a Louisiana swamp, drowning with the gators and snakes.

There was a plane crash at LBJ’s ranch in 1961 or 62. The actual crash was three days earlier than announced. He wasn’t on the plane. Taxpayers had paid for a runway on his ranch before he was president. The plane’s ownership was a mystery.

Two of JFK’s closer aides Dave Powers and Kenneth O’Donnell reported what they witnessed including the shots from the grassy knoll. Decades later Tip O’Neill was told by them that the FBI said it couldn’t have happened that way, that they were imagining things. So they testified the way they wanted them to and didn’t want to add more pain and trouble for the Kennedy family. This was not learned until O’Neill’s memoirs. Imagine what non-close friends were twisted to do.

One lady’s father filmed something, got in his car, drove from the TSBD to the First National Bank where his cousin was president and left the film.

A cheap metal casket was taken out of Kennedy’s hearse into the morgue at 6:30 p.m. The honor guard took the Britannica casket (empty/bricks}? from the motorcade at 8 p.m. There was a body switheroo on the helicopter during the swearing in. And one in an ambulance. Kennedy meant nothing while he was alive, so dead either.

JFK’s cerebellum was said to be swinging in the breeze.

Oswald’s landlady received threats, so she closed the house to the press and other visitors. But you can see the boarding house where Oswald lived today for a $30 cost of admission. It includes a sit-down with the granddaughter of the landlord. She said people want to know the man. She says she can help them do that. She was at her grandmother’s house every day after school, she says, so she recalls frequent interactions with “Mr. Lee.” He helped her with schoolwork and played with her brothers, she says. She remembers him as a kind young man.

In September 1980, Charles Harrelson surrendered to police after a six-hour standoff in which he was reportedly high on cocaine. During the standoff, he threatened suicide, stating that he had killed both Judge Wood and Kennedy. In a television interview after his arrest, Harrelson said: "At the same time I said I had killed the judge, I said I had killed Kennedy, which might give you an idea to the state of my mind at the time." Joseph Chagra later testified during Harrelson's trial that Harrelson claimed to have shot Kennedy and drew maps to show where he was hiding during the assassination. Chagra said that he did not believe Harrelson's claim, and the AP reported that the FBI apparently discounted any involvement by Harrelson in the Kennedy assassination. In 1982, Harrelson told KDFW-TV, "Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, alone, without any aid from a rogue agency of the US government or at least a portion of that agency? I believe you are very naïve if you do."

Latest JFK Conference

Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain a child. Cicero. This was a quote by speaker David Denton at the JFK Assassination Conference this weekend. He said agents were removed from the security detail before the motorcade. “Maybe they had to go to lunch?”

A presentation was made by Paul Bleau who reviewed 16 textbooks and did email exchanges with authors. He said they skew Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin. The only investigation referred to in any of them was the Warren Commission. One teacher did a lesson with a mock scene with 11 teams acting out various scenarios.

On Nov. 22, 1963, Ed Hoffman stood on the shoulder of the Stemmons Expressway in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated. The deaf witness claimed he saw a man with a rifle moments after the shots were fired. He later described how a man wearing a dark suit and tie, with an overcoat, ran west along the wooden fence with a rifle and tossed it to a second man who was dressed like a railroad worker. The second man then disassembled the rifle and put it in a soft brown bag. Hoffman immediately tried to alert the Secret Service agents about what he had seen. However, unable to understand what he was trying to say, he was threatened with a machine gun (believed to have been George Hickey). He then attempted to tell his story to a Dallas policeman (believed to be Earle Brown). Unable to understand him, Brown waved him away. Hoffman then visited the local Federal Bureau of Investigation office. No officers were there and so he left written details with the receptionist. (The FBI never responded to this note.) Hoffman told his father, Frederick Hoffman, about what he saw. His father, concerned that his son could be in danger, urged him not to tell anyone about what he had seen. Hoffman did tell his story to his uncle, Robert Hoffman, a Dallas police officer. However, the police officer decided not to take the story to the Dallas Police Department. In June 1967, Hoffman took his story to the FBI.  When agents checked out his story they discovered his father did not want it investigated.  Hoffman did keep quiet until 1975 when he wrote to Edward Kennedy about his story. Kennedy replied: "My family has been aware of various theories concerning the death of President Kennedy, just as it has been aware of many speculative accounts which have arisen from the death of Robert Kennedy. I am sure that it is understood that the continual speculation is painful for members of my family. We have always accepted the findings of the Warren Commission report and have no reason to question the quality and the effort of those who investigated the fatal shooting of Robert Kennedy." On March 25, 1977, Hoffman contacted the FBI again. This time Hoffman took with him Richard H. Freeman, one of the supervisors at Texas Instruments where he worked. Freeman understood sign language and was able to help explain in more detail what Hoffman saw. Again the FBI showed little interest in pursuing the story.

S. M. (Skinny) Sam Holland on Nov. 22, watched the motorcade from the overpass in Dealey Plaza. He said that when Kennedy was shot he saw a puff of gunsmoke under the branches of a tree on the grassy knoll. Holland later gave evidence to the Warren Commission, who reported: "According to S. M. Holland, there were four shots which sounded as though they came from the trees on the north side of Elm Street where he saw a puff of smoke.

Motorcycle cop Bobby Hargis was riding to Kennedy's left and behind him, was struck by brain matter/skull when the President's head exploded. That must mean that the shot came from in front of Kennedy and to his right. This claim goes back to Josiah Thompson's book “Six Seconds in Dallas.”  This debris [from the President's head] hit Hargis with such force that he told reporters the next day, "I thought at first I might have been hit." It seemed like the motion of the President's head or his body and the splatter had hit me, it seemed like both the locations needed investigating, and that's why I investigated them. But you couldn't tell, there was -- it looked like a million windows on the Book Depository. You couldn't tell exactly if there was anyone in there with a gun.

Given Hargis' position to Kennedy's left and behind him, he should have been able to see the back of Kennedy's head blow out, if that indeed had happened. Yet he explicitly says that he saw a "splash come out on the other side." He, in other words, is describing a wound to the right side of Kennedy's head. So it's deeply ironic that conspiracy authors have used him as a "back of the head" witness. Hargis remained consistent in his story. He was on the force only a week when he was given the assignment to flank JFK's limo -- left side, ten feet behind. A few minutes later, while at the TSBD, a co-worker leaned forward and flicked something off Hargis' upper lip.

On Nov. 22, Abraham Zapruder filmed the motorcade. Zapuder's film was sold to Life Magazine. In charge of the purchase was C. D. Jackson, a close friend of Henry Luce, the owner of the magazine. According to Carl Bernstein, Jackson was "Henry Luce's personal emissary to the CIA." On the 29th Life Magazine, published a series of 31 photographs documenting the entire shooting sequence from the Zapruder film. It was only later discovered that the critical frames that depicted the rearward motion of Kennedy's head had been printed to indicate a forward motion. James Wagenvoord, the editorial business manager and assistant to Life Magazines executive editor, realized that a mistake had been made: "I asked about it when the stills were first printed, (they didn't read right) and then duped for distribution to the European and British papers/magazines. The only response I go was an icy stare from Dick Pollard, Life's director of photography. So being an ambitious employee, I had them distributed." In its Dec. 6 edition, Paul Mandel wrote an article about the assassination in Life Magazine. "The doctor said one bullet passed from back to front on the right side of the President’s head. But the other, the doctor reported, entered the President’s throat from the front and then lodged in his body. Since by this time the limousine was 50 yards past Oswald and the President’s back was turned almost directly to the sniper, it has been hard to understand how the bullet could enter the front of his throat. Hence the recurring guess that there was a second sniper somewhere else.”

The Texas State Archives once displayed the bullet-riddled clothes worn by Gov. John Connally on the day he was wounded. The white cotton shirt, with faded bloodstains clearly visible, and a black business suit were the centerpiece of a display. “There are bullet holes both in the back and the front of the suit jacket. There is one bullet hole in the wearer’s right cuff, and there is another in the left leg, on the front. Connally donated the shirt, suit and the striped tie he was wearing to the state archives while he was still hospitalized.

As was said, you don’t put all your marbles in one guy. As in if it was Oswald. But it wasn’t!

Tidbit: Marina Oswald’s mail was watched for seven years.

Being an Aunt

 

There was a story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday called Be the Favorite Aunt or Uncle You Were Destined To Be. Appropriate since I babysat last night. It tells about a girl who knew where to turn for a breakup, for feeling safe, for love and wanting what’s best for her. Aunts and uncles can be like a second set of adults who care deeply. Caring aunts and uncles play vital roles in a family. They are mentors who offer perspectives and experiences. They listen without judgement. Almost every niece or nephew claims a “fun one.”  This one gets down on the floor, reads, attends their birthday parties and often travels with them. I haven’t with the greats yet, but for the ones who live here I sprung for New York City and Boston and Maine.  I would never underestimate their parents’ permission. Here is one thing from the story that has yet to take place. My photo on their fridge! LOL. The person is the story said truth is expected and communication is NOT by text. If the parents need to know something, find a way to make the niece of nephew tell them. Needing help is not a sign of weakness. They can ask about boyfriends, school and careers. They don’t have to listen to aunts and uncles, of course. The girl in the story always thought she would grow up to be a cool person because her aunt and uncle loved her. I hope the same.

Saluting M*A*S*H

 

M*A*S*H premiered on Sept. 17, 1972. I can remember many boring Sundays when I couldn’t wait to watch the show because it made me laugh. I still sometimes say, “I need a good M*A*S*H episode. What is your favorite episode? Who is your favorite character? (I didn’t like B.J. after Trapper, Winchester or Potter). My favorite that I will NEVER forget is when a patient dies on Christmas Day and Hawkeye turns the clock ahead so his family doesn’t have to remember that. Lt. Col. Blake’s final scene was only known by Alan Alda. The episode was described as like marching in a parade and then getting hit by a brick. I was so mad I didn’t get to watch the last episode in 1983 because I was covering M*A*S*H parties all over town for The Times. It was much later that I watched it. Well, Corp. Klinger was ahead of his time, wasn’t he? Wearing the female clothes. He actually served in the Korean War. The show had 109 Emmy nominations and 14 wins. Hawkeye wrapped up 25 nominations. He has been married since 1957. The actual war lasted three years, one month and two days, but the show aired 11 seasons. The finale remains the most-watched TV series episode in history. Parade magazine did a story and said Army boots messed with the audio. The cast donned sneakers and were shot from the waist up. Radar’s lost teddy bear showed up at an auction where a medical student paid $11,800 for it. He sold it back to Radar, now 79, who sold it at an auction for $14,307.50 in 2014. Radar is an inventor and owns patents for a special fishing pole and a toilet seat lifting handle. Loretta Swit has written books on needlepoint and watercolor painting  and is a longtime animal activist. The guest list on M*A*S*H included Patrick Swayze, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Long, Laurence Fishburne, Blythe Danner, Teri Garr and Ron Howard. The cast ate pizza and had beer every Friday night. They would tell stories, play games and rib each other.  When they were called to the set, the connection was there. They stay in touch and try to get together for dinner once a year. For a show that ranked at the bottom, Hawkeye would joke that they were in the top 72. On the way to a restaurant to celebrate the end, much of the cast realized the streets were empty. It hit them that people were at home watching the finale. Also, they  never tried to forget that real people suffered in Korea. M*A*S*H, I salute you. “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.”

One of the Best TV Episodes Ever

 

I’ve been talking up the 911 on Fox episode of April 27, 2020. It ranks in my top three episodes ever on a TV show. Buck, a firefighter, made a daring rescue and wanted to celebrate. He is still pining over his former girlfriend. Everyone at the station had plans, most with significant others, which he does not have. He went to a bar and sat next to a retired firefighter, Red, who was always consumed by his job. They became friends. Buck went to Red’s home and saw a photo of a woman from a long time ago. He inquired about her. Buck ends up finding out that her spouse died. He takes Red to her home to get them reacquainted. It turns out she has Alzheimer's and didn’t recognize him. He was kicked out. Red is mad at Buck. He has mesothelioma and a heart attack and goes to the hospital. Red, who has no one in his life, eventually forgives Buck. Red advised Buck all along, don’t work too hard and don’t have any regrets. When the man is discharged, in dramatic fashion, Buck arranges for firefighters to stand at the exit and salute and applaud his way to a seat on a fire truck, one last time before he died. The song, "Keep Me In Your Heart," by Warren Zevon, which I had never heard, is playing. I’ve played it numerous times a day since. Shouldn’t all of our heroes be recognized that way?

My other two favorites are M*A*S*H when the doctors arrange the clock so the soldier doesn’t die on Christmas Day so that his family won’t always have to remember that. And on Northern Exposure when Holling arranges a Christmas mass for his girlfriend, Shelly, though they were an odd couple. She was dejected that she wouldn’t have her childhood memories. They were in Alaska. She walks to a little church and it is aglow with candles and Hollings steps out singing Ave Maria.

Crime Con 2022 Part 2

 

Manipulation

Have you ever written someone in jail? The woman who spoke about Manipulation of the Mind at Crime Con does so for research. We manipulate and are manipulated.  Manipulation is attempting to change your mind or behavior to get you to do what I want. TV does it. Political candidates do it. For instance, a prisoner wrote her and started with Dr., then Kimberlie, then, Kim, then Kimmie, then dearest. That tries to make an emotional connection. Other common techniques are playing on insecurities. They talk you up so you want them by you. They lie then deny. They move the goalpost—lose five pounds, but 10 would be better. They use fear and threats. They are passive-aggressive, giving backhanded compliments. They use the silent treatment. They recruit others.

She said Florida is one state that pays nothing to inmates. Typically, wages range from 14 cents to $2/hour for prison maintenance labor. In Massachusetts, half of an inmate’s wages go to pay for expenses after release and in New Mexico, 15-50 percent goes to a Crime Victims Reparations Fund, discharge money and family support. Jobs can be outside the facility. In Nebraska, for instance, inmates clean the governor’s mansion. Trustees work at our Capitol. Inside prison jobs might include cooking food, washing laundry or custodial work.

The Thing About the Thing About Pam

Russ said he was not guilty to police 77 times. They did the lie detector test after he had been up 36 hours and held in an 8x10 room for 24 of them. Joel's 12-year-old son, while hearing him read aloud about the case, even said, "That lady did it." Joel called her lies Pam-isms. Here's one: I got it, but I didn't. In Missouri, it usually takes 10 to 14 years for a case to be overturned in appeal. Theirs took less than two. Joel seemed overly humble to me. I don't know if you can defame the dead, but the lesbian story should not be how Betsy is known. Pam-ism.

Exhumations

Exhumations have been done as many as six times on one body. Sometimes there may be a letter in the casket. Casket tags have to match and the toe tag from the first post-mortem. Sometimes plots are sold more than once? You must seek permission for exhumation because it is a vital record.

Forensic Entomology

There are only 30 forensic entomologists in the country. Only two are in aquatics. They study insects on dead things. Been here long? Yes, it began in the 13th century in China. A veterinarian is the most trusted expert witness today. Not even a doctor, the Crime Con presenter said. The study of lice, mites and tics can provide links to places and time. Paths of travel on cars can be studied. Better wash yours well if you committed a crime. There are stinging studies and neglect (elderly, children). Entomophobia causes car and plane wrecks. Gravesite tophonomy is a real thing.  Insects can dig six feet.  Water and plastic are barriers to the forensic studies. They are harder to study in freezing weather. There are three body farms to study the decomposition of a human corpse. He talked about dolphin poaching—arrows, gunshots, heads bashed in with gaffing hooks. He believes in maggot therapy. He said we all eat two pounds of insects a year, not knowing it. There is a hotel bedbug detector site.

Capital Punishment

Describe the death penalty in one word. This was a question a Crime Con presenter asked. He studied the 46 executions in 2010 and wrote a book. There have been 16,032 done since executions began, which was 1608. They have been bludgeoned, burned at the stake and fastened to a wagon wheel and dropped from a large height. The reasons were murder, burglary, adultery, piracy and witchcraft. In 1834, Pennsylvania got uncomfortable with the death penalty and banned public executions. There are 130 people on Death Row there now; they have executed three since 1976. The last public execution in the U.S. was in 1936 in Kentucky. 20,000 people have been known to show up for one. 27 states still have the death penalty and 23 do not. Some have a moratorium. In Alabama and Florida, a judge can overrule a 12-0 jury that convicted. Eleven people were executed last year and there are 2,474 people on death rows. California has 700 on death row and executed 13 in the last 30 years. South Carolina has reinstituted the firing squad where death is said to come in 15 seconds. Lethal injections can take 20 minutes.

Anthrax

Remember the anthrax crimes three weeks after 9/11? The investigation included looking for mysterious deaths, searching biocontainment labs, interviewing veterinarians and using bloodhounds. There was no human DNA or prints on the pre-stamped envelopes with a Trenton postmark. The ink was common. He used a bogus return address. When two postal employees died of the five killed, the criminal was upset. He was a fan of blue-collar workers, but not Tom Brokaw, the New York Post or Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahay. Seventeen people were injured. The presenter took a vaccine to protect himself from getting the disease caused by the bacteria.

From a show on TV afterwards. There was a million-dollar reward. 2,200 workers in the USPS facility were concerned.  Dogs on Capitol Hill got Cipro before they did. Postal machines were running at 35 m.p.h., possibly spewing spores. Their class action suit was dismissed.

Ryan Duke

Look for the Ryan Duke trial this week in the 2005 death of Tara Grinstead, a former Georgia beauty queen and teacher. There was nothing missing at her home and a glove was found with her DNA and the alleged killer's, Ryan Duke. The gloves had his DNA and were said to pick up dog poo, in the defendant's defense. There was apparently a scene in the bedroom where later plastic off of a lamp was found. Duke’s friend Bo Dukes is in prison for this case. This was the announcement nobody knows yet that can be proven: He did not call from a pay phone to her home.

Gen Why

Gen Why talked about a police officer named Chris Horner and whether he was murdered or committed suicide in Florida on Cemetery Road in 1998 after reporting an abandoned car. Six years later, an inmate said he did it with many others. They were bank robbers and Horner stumbled upon their car. His body radio was not working. He knew one of the men and they must have decided to kill him because of that. Some of his co-workers thought it was suicide because he was face down with a gunshot wound behind his left ear and there was no sign of a struggle.  He worked three jobs, had six kids and a wife charged with Food Stamp fraud. They had $40,000 in credit card debt. He had only been a police officer for 14 months. Thank goodness the jail dude’s aunt threatened to rat his story out if he didn’t do so himself.

Susan Powell

Red flags on the Susan Powell case. She left a note in case something happened to her, husband was known to lock her out and he didn’t work. He acted like he did by posting a Realtor ad with the wrong phone number. He googled Amanda Knox and stain removers. Her life insurance was $3.5 million. Washington lost a multimillion case for the way it handled the visitation.  The attorney said she always has a theme song for each case. This one was “Get Together” by the Youngbloods--Make the mountains ring or the angels cry. There was a “Death Lies Here” sign in thug’s shed. They have checked a mine for Susan’s body, but gas was poured down it. The kids had mentioned she was by the bushes and by the blueberries. There are 35,000 pages on the case at https://www.ksl.com/article/25263938/west-valley-city-photos-documents-relating-to-the-susan-powell-case

Paul Holes

Paul Holes said for people seeking answers in a cold case to keep showing that the family wants answers and work your way up the chain of command if you need to.

911

A 911 dispatcher with a million calls under his belt said there are seven calls to 911 in the U.S. every second. Once a week he gets a call from a drive-through from someone unhappy with his order. He said because 9 took a long time to dial on a rotary phone that the U.S. used 911 instead of 999 that Britain did.

Real Killer

In Real Killer, Rodney Lincoln was sent to prison after a murdered woman’s daughter at age 7 identified him as her mother’s killer. His conviction was reviewed as one of six out of an initial 1,400 cases in an innocence project. When the daughter was old enough to read reports and newspapers, she saw a sketch that really looked like someone else.  After 36 years, the Missouri governor commuted his sentence. Lincoln said he can’t describe the joy, but he felt it.

Long Island Killer

Dirty cop or Long Island Killer? James Burke is a former Suffolk County Police Chief who got shrouded in accusations of being involved in Long Island serial killings after rumors of his prior involvements with local sex workers came to light. Burke refused to let the FBI examine the killings. He assaulted Christopher Loeb, an admitted heroin addict who had broken into Burke’s department-issued vehicle to steal his duffle bag that Loeb claimed contained sex toys and porn. In 2016, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to depriving a person of civil rights and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice. That same year, an escort came out to pose allegations of rough sex by him. She saw him use drugs. Between 1996 and the 2010 discovery of one set of human remains at Oak Beach in Suffolk County, 10 people fell victim to suspected homicide. Shannan Gilbert left the home of a client and was driven to Oak Beach by a driver, who later received a call from the client to take Gilbert home after she reportedly became irrational and erratic. Although multiple searches were conducted in the vicinity of where Gilbert was last seen, her body was not discovered until 18 months after she was first reported missing. More remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway. All worked as Craigslist escorts and were last seen between July 2007 and September 2010.  Several months later, the remains of another woman who worked as an escort were discovered several miles east of where the Gilgo Beach Four were found. More remains were found there. One was a female toddler, another was an Asian male in female clothing, and eventually the baby’s mother known as “Peaches” due to a bitten heart-shaped tattoo of a peach on her body. Current Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison has now at long last established a multi-agency task force that includes representatives from the FBI, New York State Police, Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office to reinvigorate the investigation and bring the person or persons responsible for these crimes to justice. FYI. Many of the torsos were found apart from the rest of the bodies. There is a body location map.

Undercover Agent

Bob Delaney went undercover as Bobby Covert, odd, yes, but it was a deceased person’s name at birth and he would now like to meet his family. He was a N.J. trooper who went undercover to bust the mob. He and five others opened a trucking company and an arrest record was created for him. He said it was like wearing a costume. Yes, he got scared to the point of throwing up and getting diarrhea. Some mobsters got arrested and became informants. Some told him thank you for breaking the chain. He later was a referee in kids’ basketball and then the NBA. It was therapy. He does see good in society. He defines organized crime as an ongoing conspiracy which uses fear and corruption in an attempt to make money and/or gain power within a community/society.

“Nowhere is Italian in there,” he said. He discusses PTSD back to the days of Sophocles when he wrote warriors did not know how to act. In the Civil War it was called a soldier’s heart. The WWI term was shell shocked; WWII was battle fatigue. For Korea and Vietnam, it was flashbacks. He has a book called Heroes are Human, Lessons in Resilience, Courage and Wisdom from the COVID Front Lines.

Genomics

The test kit for a target test of consensual DNA of an inferred relative in the investigation of the Golden State Killer cost $217. Six worked the DNA angle. It took 63 days. Regular police work over 43 years cost $10 million, took 650 detectives and agents over 200,000 hours. He was not a suspect before the DNA test.  DNA databases are 80 percent white.  The Wisconsin DNA Databank is responsible for receiving, verifying acceptability and processing reference DNA samples from convicted offenders and a subset of arrestees. It contains over 300,000 offender and arrestee DNA profiles.   Under California law, law enforcement is required to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony crime. Even if the individual is never convicted or charged, the state may keep a DNA sample just based on the arrest. The color of your eyes on your license could come into play when they run an ancestry possibility study.

Reasonable Doubt

I can understand where someone may move things around so the victim's death would not look like a suicide. But not when she is tied and taped. This was in the Reasonable Doubt session. As a potential juror, you have to wonder if the lineup was suggestive (one person with a hoodie, one person with short hair and being THE suspect) and whether witnesses are visually impaired. There's something rare called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome that may have affected one case.

Interviewing

Fil Waters, a Houston detective with a 96 percent solve rate, talked about interviewing. First, investigators need to establish control and then share a little bit of themselves. “I’m a father, too.” It is about finding the right person who did the wrong thing.

Three Large Cities

A panel of homicide detectives from large cities said it takes speed, strength and smarts. One had a pic of dog poop on a person’s phone to establish their alibi. Google geofencing is the hot thing. I am awaiting a Google takeout of myself. Cases go cold because of bad crime samples, uncooperative witnesses and heavy caseloads.

Finding Justice

Funding Justice is helping solve crimes in Las Vegas. It’s like crowdfunding cold cases (philanthropy). Vegas solves 94 percent of murder cases. A Mississippi woman is funding the investigation of all unidentified remains there.

West Memphis Three and Wrongful Convictions

I watched the talk on the West Memphis Three and Wrongful Convictions (they begin with tunnel vision). They still did not convince me the owl killed that North Carolina lady.

Genetic DNA

There was a speaker from Othram and they can use one-trillionth of a gram for DNA.

Black Widower

Anyone remember the freak man on Dateline who was married six times and four of the wives died? He was acquitted of No. 2 and it was called a suicide. Not so lucky on No. 6. One had cancer and one had open heart surgery. He had kids with the first one. He wore pigtails and a Tony Romo shirt in court. He claimed to shoot an intruder when it was really somebody he set up to do it. A neighbor outside happened to be on his cell phone and the shots can be heard and timed. Freako did not call 911 for 15 minutes. Busted. Also, there were no gunshots in the ski mask when he said he shot the “intruder” in the head. I was glad to hear there is a slayer statute where the murderer is not entitled to the estate if he killed the decedent. Unfortunately, his conviction has been overturned in Nevada. Something to do with priors.

Sheryl McCollum

She once wrote a letter to J. Edgar Hoover about being an agent. He told her to stay in school, that there were not a lot of females back then.

Jeffrey Epstein

He would give a finder’s fee to the young girls who would get paid to “massage” him. This web of girls was three or four a day no matter where he was—New York, New Mexico, Florida or the island. Sea urchins were planted around that island so girls could not escape, because an attorney went there and tried to. He had moles in the FBI. It was all about control. He was the type who every day had two sprays of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on his muffin. Not one, not three. Girls opened doors for him. He attempted suicide once before the final one and guards were arrested for not checking on him. He influenced them was the word used. All victims who wanted to got to speak at his dismissal case since his suicide allowed no trial. There were many correct judge rulings in this absurdity—no bail and this. When they were about to chicken out, the attorney got them a wig and they were allowed to come in back doors to avoid the media. It was ruled that court drawings could have no distinguishing features.

 

I didn’t watch Gil, Coursen, romance scams, Kim Goldman, detecting lies, Cats, Nancy Grace, Chris Hansen or Delphi because they are repeat guest of prior years. The serial killer one was awful. There was one about bias, but now I can’t find my notes.

 

Crime Con 2022 Part 1

 

I watched 45 sessions of 2022 Crime Con since April 30. There were nine repeat speakers so I didn’t do those. If you’ve followed the posts, you’ve learned how to survive an active shooter, why a rape victim speaks out, the horrible crime of eight nurses murdered in the same house, the latest from John Ramsey, Dr. Cyril Wecht, the Vegas shooter, the missing orphans in Tuam, a stolen infant, profiling, manipulation and spying, exhumation, the Tylenol case and my ever favorite Dateline, etc.

JonBenet

Please sign the petition that asks the governor of Colorado to have the remaining DNA taken out of Boulder. We need a genealogical DNA test ASAP! John Ramsey just said "government moves based on public pressure." He said the killer is a "deranged, subhuman creature." He also wants child murder to be a federal offense.  It is selfish and unprofessional of the incompetent Boulder Police Department to hold on to this sample.

I was in the camp of the family did it for years. I no longer think so with their DNA cleared and their handwriting being a 5 no chance for John Ramsey and 4.5 no chance for Patsy. The Santa DNA was not a match and he was not strong. The number of his bonus, $118,000, in the ransom note would make him look dumb if he used it. The note also never mentioned JonBenet's name or used a cuss word, the Crime Con moderator said. To me, that shows distancing/someone who did know her. Perhaps someone was angry at Ramsey.

Four doctors found no prior sexual abuse on JonBenet. 

Yeah, brother Burke is weird. John said he finished college and is working as a software developer. He said they had to trick the media when they took him to school after the crime. A friend and their car was a decoy. It was called Burke Watch at school. People actually had automatic callers around their neck for if something happened. They feared for Burke.

John said whoever did it was evil and deranged and does not think the way we do. Detective Lou Smith had several hundred names in a spread sheet and thought it was a kidnap gone wrong.

Dateline

Keith Morrison recorded a Calm episode called Overnight Oats. He was asked what he liked for breakfast and said oatmeal. Josh Mankiewicz joked that if you think it's just oats, water and milk, there is a twist! He did the Dateline cast introduction and left Keith for last and pretended that was it. It was hilarious. Dateline is the longest prime time show at NBC. Dennis said he wants to know the story of the people and it can't be obvious who did it. Someone joked it's really a true-romance-gone-wrong show. Josh got one of his favorite stories from a newspaper left on an airplane seat. Andrea said as long as your spouse runs the tub for you, plans a hike together or asks you to go to the basement, the show will be around. Josh said the world would be a better place if everyone watched so they would know if they commit murder, they will be caught. They were asked how they started their careers. Josh had to pick up a suit for Sam Donaldson and was told by Sam it better be three pieces. He brought it back to him and he thanked Josh by name, which surprised him. Andrea was a Baywatch intern and later had to take a quiz to get a reporter job in Mississippi. She barely passed because she wasn't into politics. Keith's father was a minister and he interned some times, doing sermons and funerals. I didn't catch the rest. The one case Josh wishes would be solved is JFK. Me, too.

Stolen Baby

The story that tugged at my heart last year was missing DeOrr Kunz. This year, I want this woman to find her baby who was stolen at 5 days old. She doesn't even have a picture of him. He was taken by a "friend" she met in the hospital who came to her house as she was showering. From 1964 to 2021, there are 336 cases of infant abduction, that's under six months. Twelve are still believed to be out there. Donna wants to help everyone she can because "no one can help me." The profile of a baby stealer is female, 12-60, compulsive, a lifetime liar and probably lost a baby or can't have one.

He was born on 11/6/78 in Atlanta. She was 16.

An afterthought, how does the boy get in school, get a license, a possible passport, get the sacraments pretending he is Catholic, without a birth certificate. The thug may have written off for the birth certificate? Is there a record of a request? Is the Department of Vital Records in on it?

Find Daniel

I feel for Daniel's father who spoke last night. This is a very mysterious missing person case. Dad has moved from South Carolina to Arizona to find his son who was born with one hand, founded his fraternity and was a young geologist. I believe law enforcement could do more. His searching has found other bodies. Parts at the end of this story are weird--dope, the girl, ditching of clothes? FINDING ANY PART OF A MISSING PERSON IS IMPORTANT. EVERYONE NEEDS A DECENT BURIAL.

Terror in Vegas

A Vegas police sergeant who worked the Mandalay Bay sniper case just gave a scoop.  The dude had two rooms with a layout of guns. He broke both hotel windows. Because he did that a draft closed the door between them and he got locked out of the other room. Also, David Copperfield almost got killed that night. A car was trying to get through a closed off area and they tried to stop it. Just when he was about to shoot, the driver rolled down her window and he saw Copperfield in the back seat. The young cops didn't know who he was. The sergeant explained he made the Statue of Liberty disappear and he almost disappeared that night. The speaker is of the mind to not mention the killer. He said we should glorify the victims and medical teams and heroes. 869 people were injured, 422 were shot, 60 perished. Thirteen hospitals took the wounded. The gunshot sounds hitting the microphones made it even sound worse. The ones who escaped ended up at other venues and the airport where private planes were. They consumed the Pappy Van Winkle in one and the owner was not mad. In these venues, police dealt with victims who had brain matter on them and others who were drunk and wanted to go after the killer. He told the story of a couple, the guy a cop, whose girlfriend put his skull back on him and asked some cowboys to carry him out while she had been shot in the chest. He had a 1 percent chance of living and he made it!

The shooter wanted to blow up the gas tanks at the airport, but the good news was there was no oxygen in them. They were drained for evidence. The crime scene was 17.5 acres and there was 20,000 hours of video. Shooter had Google searches of summer concerts.

A story in People after the event featured a shot woman who ran into a cab that had three strangers in it. She was taken to the hospital and they have a bond to this day. They were at her bedside when she woke up. She has searched for the driver with no success. She's had 15 surgeries and gave up on getting pregnant after receiving fertility treatment beforehand. She still has a bullet lodged near her pelvis.

No Body, No Crime

Not so, said Matt Murphy, a wonderful prosecutor. He said in the past 120 years, 141 bodies are unidentified in Riverside County, Calif. His boss won 67 cases in a row.  What a beast! He said in no body cases, the jury sees the reflection of the victim's soul in the eyes of those who loved them. I loved that quote.

He spoke of a case where the whispers of a husband and wife at jail said no bodies, no clue.

"A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you're talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging."--Casino quote

Tuam

There was a mother and baby Home in Tuam, Ireland, under the care of a nursing order of sisters where 796 children died between 1925 and 1961. These human remains were found in a septic tank in 1971 when a boy fell into a pit. Unwed mothers were sent here and stayed and worked a year after the birth, done without a doctor or pain medicine, to serve somewhat as a penance. There are death certificates, but no burial records, with a cemetery almost adjacent. They were two days to two months old. Apparently it was an illegal adoption agency and some of them in the U.S. are talking about it after finding records from their parents who kept archives of making a contribution there. Excavation is supposed to occur.

Spying

Luke Bencie, a former CIA spy, has been to 141 of 195 countries. He has been mobbed, drugged, blackmailed, bribed and shot at. He said to always assume you are under surveillance. France did this on planes. They learn the balcony test. Every room is a snapshot. Grand Central Station may present a person in a coat on a hot day or someone tying his shoe that looks out of place. He uses the CARVER method. Criticality (single points of failure), Accessibility, Recoverability, Vulnerability (susceptibility and exposure), Effect (repercussion and scope and magnitude), Recognizability. These are racked and stacked in priority. Think Nataktomi Plaza. Pre-empting is better than responding. People spy for money, ideology, coercion or ego (MICE). They are motivated by reciprocity, authority, social proof, commitment, liking and scarcity. Needs, wants, wounds (passed over for something), access and money may be the things they desire. Elicitatation is most important; he taught it. He mentioned SCREAMPIGS. Smile, compliment, referral, exhibit, ask opinions, poll, gifts (a drink), schedule (try to get a followup). Tricks of the trade are let the subject be the star, let them take the lead, quote a fact, lightly disagree, use flattery sparingly, gossip to lighten the mood, share confidences and alcohol. Remember, “just” is a lie word. I’m “just” here to… He once put Cheerios under his chair pad to see if anyone sat at his desk.

SO HOW WOULD YOU GET ON ANY BALCONY TO PASS THAT TEST?

Tylenol

I haven’t had a Tylenol since 1982. Maybe never did before that either. Kind of an aspirin girl and even that is rare. Blessed. Candice DeLong, the FBI agent who worked the case in Chicago where Tylenol was laced with potassium cyanide and seven people died, spoke. No suspect has been charged or convicted of the poisonings. New York City resident James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for sending a letter (with a fingerprint on it) to Tylenol's manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, that took responsibility for the deaths and demanded $1 million to stop them, but evidence tying Lewis to the actual poisoning never emerged. He wanted to communicate by ads in the Chicago Tribune and they included a bank number, which led to Steve McCahey, who was actually set up because the wife of Lewis once worked for McCahey’s travel agency which went bankrupt and she was shorted $50 until he resolved it. A Kansas FBI agent recalled Lewis was once arrested there and moved to Chicago. The case led them to New York City in search of Lewis and the FBI staked out every library because that is where he would be reading the Chicago Tribune. His description caught one agent’s attention. Now, this is some good police work. Mary, 12, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., was the first Tylenol death. She took Tylenol for flu symptoms and her death was thought to be an undiagnosed heart or brain disorder. Adam Janus of Arlington Heights died in a hospital later that day after ingesting Tylenol; his brother and sister-in-law also died after taking Tylenol from the same bottle, of course not knowing. Two paramedics who responded to these two calls happened to know each other and were discussing their day. Within a few days, three more were in the morgue and none of these seven had connections. Warnings were then issued through the media.

Lewis apparently drilled holes in a bread board with a cake knife in committing the crime. The tainted capsules were found to have been manufactured at two different locations – Pennsylvania and Texas – suggesting that they were tampered with after the product had been placed on store shelves for sale. A nationwide recall of Tylenol products was issued; an estimated 31 million bottles were in circulation, with a retail value of over $100 million. Fifty FBI agents and 50 state police worked 5,000 leads. The crime was considered the same as placing a bomb and walking away. A profile indicated poison would be used by women under age 75--broad. Numerous psychics called in saying the person who did it was by a fence or water. Lewis was sentenced to 10 years in prison. During the trial, attorneys claimed that he intended only to focus the attention of the authorities on his wife's former employer.  He thought he was righting a wrong.

In 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in connection to the Tylenol murders. Kaczynski denied having ever possessed potassium cyanide. The first four Unabomber crimes happened in Chicago and its suburbs from 1978 to 1980, and Kaczynski's parents had a suburban Chicago home in Lombard, Illinois, in 1982, where he stayed occasionally. DeLong also got to work on that case. They called him Unabeast, she said.

From my research: While at the time of the scare the company's market share collapsed from 35 percent to 8 percent, it rebounded in less than a year, a move credited to the company's prompt and aggressive reaction. In November, it reintroduced capsules in a new, triple-sealed package, coupled with heavy price promotions and within several years, Tylenol had regained the highest market share for the over-the-counter analgesic in the US. The 1982 incident inspired the pharmaceutical, food and consumer product industries to develop tamper-resistant packaging. Product tampering was made a federal crime.  The incident prompted the pharmaceutical industry to move away from capsules, which were easy to contaminate as a foreign substance could be placed inside without obvious signs of tampering. This led to the eventual replacement of the capsule with the solid “caplet.”

DeLong also got to work on a kidnapping case where the little boy turned around as he was being passed off to his parents and said, “Thanks for saving me, agent Candy.”

Rape Victim Advocacy

I listened to Kimberly Corban speak with Steve Wilkos. She was raped while in college. She asked the audience to pair up and tell your last sexual experience, then said STOP. That's what a rape victim has to do...on the stand. Her testimony was three hours...in front of her attacker. But she did it to get him convicted and speaks about it so others can learn to show compassion for victims. She said if someone shares such a story with you, believe her. She said initially her mother had to be next to her in the shower because she was scared to close her eyes while rinsing her hair.

Killer Relationships

Red Flags in a relationship: He is leading a funeral service for Kobe Bryant in the gym hall and he is not a funeral director. If you complain about him to law enforcement, he tells people you are a whistleblower. You are sleeping with a knife under your pillow. People lie, but patterns don't. Don't fall for someone saying he will treat you differently than the ex.  #SisDontSettle is the book of the speaker who gave this talk. Also, make sure your Alexa works to call 911.

Profiling

I listened to Crime Con’s Killer Psyche and got to create a profile of a killer. Come to find out, it was for a horrific crime in Chicago in 1966, killing eight nurses, ages 18-22, in one house over five hours. A neighbor woke up in the middle of the night to a woman on a ledge, yelling, “They’re all dead.” One was naked on the couch with a ligature. Four more had their hands bound in a bedroom. He put a gun (stolen) on them and made them tie their own sheets. Three more, the same in another bedroom. Some were Filipino. Some were stabbed. Only one was raped. One’s face was covered. This can mean caring. Seasoned police walked out vomiting as did a crime reporter. The one on the ledge hid under a bed for two hours; he must have lost count and forgotten her. She got his description: white male, 6-feet tall, blonde hair, potmarked face, talked Southern and had a tat that said Born To Raise Hell. He liked to tell people at a bar he was in Vietnam, but he wasn’t. We were tasked with profiling the gender, age, employment, education, dress, whether loner, leader or follower, where he lived—own or rent or drift, sexual history/marriage, and motive. I believed he was a slob, not a neat freak. Yet he was organized because he brought his own weapon. Someone guessed that he was a butcher. Turns out he dropped out of school at 15, married at 16 for a year, and had a child. His father died when he was young and his mother remarried to get help raising five kids. The stepdad was abusive. It led to dude hating his mother, which led to hating women. He started drinking and doing drugs. They discussed the Madonna-Whore complex, the tendency of some men to categorize women as either pious and valuable or as overly sexual, easy to bed and “worthless whores.” He got arrested 41 times in Dallas for burglary and forgery and came back to Chicago when he thought he might be caught again. He sofa hopped between sisters. Eventually at a fleabag hotel, he cut his arm in a suicide attempt. A wise surgical resident at Cook County Hospital had been reading the newspaper and saw about the tat and description and gave him a sedative. So, he was a drifter. He got eight consecutive life sentences of 100 years. Other profile questions are: did he cooperate or deny? Have a dog? Which kind shows something, whether Chihuahua or Doberman or Rottweiler. Does he have a vehicle? I said no. Is he shy or good or braggadocios? Is he slow or smart?

Active Shooters

An FBI agent who ran the first active shooter program gave fact and fiction on shooters. Male is fact. Age 18-25 is fiction. Average age is 35. Forty-four percent are working, so not necessarily jobless. Loner is fiction. Most do interact. At Aurora, 18 were placed in a police vehicle and survived. Protocol for not waiting for an ambulance changed after that movie theater shooting. While many shootings may seem to take place in Colorado (Columbine, Boulder), they occur in every state. She said 70 percent of the shootings end in five minutes.  35 percent in two minutes. If the business is closed to the public, the shooter is already inside. They will take place where there is pedestrian traffic.  The cadence is run, hide, fight. Defend yourself if you can. Most don’t really snap, they planned and prepared it. They likely suffered personal losses. Thirty to 40 percent intend to commit suicide. They give away things. Look for this. They are not people already getting mental health care.

In the weekend church shooting, churchgoers detained the gunman by using an extension cord to hogtie him and confiscate the weapons. True heroes.

Dr. Cyril Wecht

Dr. Cyril Wecht, now 91, said to make sure your library has purchased the 27 volumes of the Warren Commission. He spent $75 on his. It should be alongside Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. He called the Warren Commission Report “cockamamie bullshit.” He wants to know the evidentiary burden if you believe it.

I did not know Adlai Stevenson was spat upon in Dallas two weeks before Kennedy was shot nor that some Dallas school kids applauded when they learned he was assassinated.

One particular bullet was central to the case against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin of President Kennedy. This bullet, which was referred to in the Warren Report as Commission Exhibit 399, is supposed to have entered Kennedy’s upper back, passed through his upper back and lower neck, come out of his throat just below the Adam’s apple, entered Gov. John Connally’s back close to his right armpit, passed through his body, smashing several inches of one rib, come out of the right side of his chest, passed through his right wrist, breaking the radius bone, embedded itself in his left thigh, and finally, while Connally was on a stretcher in Parkland Hospital, the bullet worked its way out of his thigh and fell onto the stretcher, where it was discovered by a hospital employee. Bullets move in a straight line, not do the hokey pokey (my words). When a bullet strikes bone, it gets deformed. His words. Bullets of the same type as CE 399 were fired into the wrist bones of ten human cadavers. All ten bullets were severely deformed, unlike CE 399. One bullet was fired into a goat’s rib and was flattened substantially more than CE 399.  Studies must include the angle, range, sequence, trajectory and weight of the bullet.

(The W.C. bullet pictured on my Facebook should not be pristine!)

I do not know as much about the RFK assassination. Wecht said RFK was shot from one to 1.5 inches away from his head. Sirhan’s gun spent eight bullets, yet there were 13 shots. Was there a second shooter? Mrs. Sirhan wanted Wecht as his attorney; he said was tempted because he is a lawyer also, but he is not a trial lawyer.

On Mary Jo Kopechne— body in a pond in a car--no autopsy was done. Her mother later regretted there was no exhumation. She didn’t want it to found out that she might not be a virgin or was pregnant.

Wecht was involved in the Elvis Presley, Waco and O.J. Simpson cases. He has done 21,000 autopsies and supervised 42,000.

Gabby Petito

Haven’t heard the name Gabby Petito since loser’s body was found. There was a power of control wheel mentioned in the domestic abuse session of Crime Con. Her parents amended their lawsuit against the Laundries that will be precedent setting. There is no tattletale law, but weren’t they aiding and abetting or do they have the right to remain silent? 

Gabby first told the Utah police she had an injury from her backpack. They have a lot of discretion. One of them did not want to arrest her because he didn't want her to have a criminal charge on her record. One of the panelists said trauma changes your brain. Domestic violence victims practice fight, flight or fawn to placate their survival. Sometimes they stay because they want to help that person. Sometimes they want to gain equality with them.

J.J. Vallow Grandparents

The Woodcocks, grandparents of J.J. Vallow, equals crushing story. His birth name was Canaan. They are from Lake Charles. Chad is up for the death penalty. They hope Lori is, too.  They said she has always played the system. They have 16 grandkids and some greats. And for Lori texting Kay that her brother died is insane. Texted. Chad and Lori are nothing but freaks.