JFK's Tie Knot

[Bob Prudhomme]

Bob....

Can you explain how it is you can use the results of THAT autopsy to conclude anything?

The track was never dissected or examined from either side
The hole they described was amzaingly small at only a few mm's
It was at a spot below the level of the shirt collar so if it came from the front it had to go thru that area...
unless Rankin's comment about what is shown in the FIRST autopsy report which they are looking at yet never made it to the final "version"

If there are at least 2 if not three different versions of the autopsy - with them offering a 1500cc weight for a brain half gone - I find the best we can do is illustrate what we have in evidence and then decide if that matches the Parkland/Dealeay scenario. We know his description of the head wounds are not consistent with what we have in evidence prior to Bethesda...



Mr. Rankin:
Then theres a great range of material in regards to the wound and theautopsy and this point of exit or entrance of the bullet in the front of theneck, and that all has to be developed much more than we have at the presenttime.

We have[B] an explanation there in the autopsy that probably a fragmentcame out the front of the neck, but [/B]with the elevation the shot must have comefrom, and the angle, it seems quite apparent, since we have the picture ofwhere the bullet entered in the back, that the bullet entered below theshoulder blade to the right of the backbone, which is below the place where thepicture shows the bullet came out in the neckband of the shirt in front, andthe bullet, according to the autopsy didn't strike any bone at all, thatparticular bullet, and go through.

So that how it could turn, and --

Rep. Boggs. I thought I read that bullet just went in a finger's length.

Mr. Rankin. That is what they first said

David

The throat wound had nothing to do with the back wound, and attempting to dissect that track would have shown nothing, other than it was physically impossible to go in a straight line from where they located the back wound, in the back of the neck, to the throat wound without going through the vertebrae of the neck.

Some of the best information of what actually occurred at the autopsy can be found in the HSCA interviews, from the late 70's, of the people watching the autopsy. It is no wonder these interviews were essentially suppressed and lied about by the US Government, until they were forcibly released in the early 90's.

A non-medical officer by the name of Lieutenant Richard Lipsey was among those observing the autopsy, and one can only assume he was able to hear what was being discussed by Humes, Finck and Boswell, given the detail of the information he related in his HSCA interview.

Lipsey stated that the greatest amount of time during the autopsy was spent exploring the chest and abdominal cavities, and their organs, for a bullet or fragments of a bullet. According to Lipsey, it seemed to be accepted that a bullet had entered the back and "ranged downward", without exiting. This can be corroborated by FBI agents Sibert and O'Neill, also present at the autopsy, contacting their superiors to find out if there was a type of bullet that would disintegrate completely in a wound.

If it was believed the bullet entering the back either exited the throat or only penetrated an inch into the back, why the extensive search in the chest and abdominal organs for bullet fragments? Why would Sibert and O'Neill inquire about a "disintegrating" bullet?

Lipsey goes on to relate that it seemed to be accepted that the throat wound was the result of a fragment from a bullet that struck quite low in the back of JFK's skull; either penetrating the back and the floor of the skull, or grazing the base of the skull as it struck a tangential blow. This last is corroborated by the HSCA interview of Jerrol Custer, the x-ray tech who took all of the x-rays of JFK at Bethesda. In his interview, he relates that he did not recognize the official x-ray of JFK's neck, and that the x-ray he saw showed many metal fragments in the vicinity of cervical vertebrae C3/C4.

If you look at this diagram below, you can see how all of this might line up.




The larynx can be seen below the jawbone. The trachea (windpipe) begins at the base of the larynx, and can be identified by its "rings". JFK's throat wound was reported to be at the level of the 3rd tracheal ring, and this can be counted by starting at the larynx and counting downward. The seven cervical vertebrae are easily seen, although C1 is a bit hard to see. To find C3/C4, it is easier to start from the bottom vertebra, C7, and count upwards.

Now that we know where all of the parts are located, it is a simple matter to lay a straight edge over everything, beginning at the outside base of the skull. It should be quite obvious that a bullet striking a ricocheting tangential blow at the base of the skull had a very good chancing of impacting the spine at C3/C4, and of sending a fragment forward to exit at the throat below the larynx.