JFK Throat Wound: Exit or Entry?

[Bob Prudhomme]

I understand that it would be possible for a bullet fragment to exit the skull through the foramen magnum. I also understand that it would be possible for a bullet fragment to pass between 2 vertebra, or between the skull and C1. What I don't believe is that the same bullet fragment could do both, and then end up exiting the skin at the larynx.

For a bullet or fragment to pass between vertebrae, or between skull and C1/C2 , it would have to have a nearly entirely horizontal motion. For a bullet to exit the foramen magnum and then exit the throat at about C5 or C6 it would have to have a significant downward trajectory.

In the scenario of a frangible bullet, if the lead pellet doesn't leave the rest of the bullet until it has penetrated an inch or 2 of tissue, that only adds to the vertical component of the pellet's path. You might have a more straight-line path if you posit a point slightly forward of the magnum as an exit point from the skull for a bullet fragment, and then you can go looking on the X-rays for a bit of damage there. I've only seen 2 x-ray pictures, a side shot and a frontal/rear shot, which might not be the right angle to observe damage to the underside of the skull, or damage to C1.

I also think that a bullet or fragment travelling at a low angle of incidence (up and down) relative to the skin would not leave merely a neat little hole in the throat, but would look more like a vertical tear. The bullet fragment would then have to miss the shirt and tie as well, (I personally believe that the neat observed damage to the shirt and tie was most likely caused by medical staff at Parkland)

Edit: A bone fragment could originate at the base of the skull, perhaps by virtue of a shock wave, and not have to travel in a more or less straight line from occipital protrusion to larynx (as a bullet would). Also, we know from your earlier work on the back wound that there was some bone damage to the vertebrae (or was it clavicle) associated with that, much closer to the throat wound.

Hi Drew

Yes, I will admit there is still a bit of a maze for this bullet fragment to travel through, and the round hole in JFK's throat is hard to explain if the bullet was travelling at a downward angle. However, truth is stranger than fiction and, as long as an opening exists, the possibility remains a fragment may have passed through it.

The fragment would not necessarily be the entire 4.5 mm diameter lead/maillechort pellet seen in the nose of the Carcano M37 frangible bullet. As one of the modifications necessary, to make this bullet disintegrate passing through soft tissue, would be to drill a small hollow point in this pellet, there is no way this pellet would be in one intact piece following disintegration of the bullet. It would break apart, and the largest fragment left of it might only be 1 mm in diameter, or smaller. This would make the 3-8 mm diameter (estimated size) throat wound truly typical of an exit wound, in that it would be larger than the projectile creating it.

As the nose pellets in the diagrams seem to be slightly longer than they are wide, it may also be possible our fragment was oblong in shape. If this oblong fragment was presenting itself horizontally as it exited JFK's throat, would it be able to make a round exit hole?

The hardest part of this whole endeavour is trying to find a path for this fragment in three dimensions, and only having two dimensional diagrams, such as the ones above, to work with. I'm seriously considering purchasing a wired together 3-D model of the skull and neck vertebrae.