Expert claims Kennedy autopsy photos faked

Press, 11 July 1979, Page 8

Expert claims Kennedy autopsy photos faked

NZPA-Reuter Baltimore A photographic technician hired by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Assassinations contends that four of the autopsy photographs of John F. Kennedy are forgeries, the “Baltimore Sun” says. Mr Robert F. Groden, a photo-optics technician, said he uncovered evidence of forgery through visual inspection and X-rays of the photographs of the assassinated President. In a report the newspaper says it obtained, Mr Groden said his evidence raised grave doubts about the authenticity of the materials relied upon by the House committee. The photographs he referred to are two black-

and-white snapshots of the back of Kennedy’s head and the same photographs in colour. Mr Groden’s statement, which is to be included in the final version of the House committee’s report to be released this month, suggests the possibility of an exit wound in the back of Kennedy’s head. That theory is supported by sworn statements from 10 doctors and nurses who treated or handled Kennedy upon his arrival at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, immediately after he was shot, on November 22, 1963, the newspaper says. The Warren Commission and other investigations concluded that the only shots that hit Kennedy came from the rear.

But Mr Groden contends that a photograph showing part of the back of Kennedy’s head, containing a small entry bullet wound, was inserted over that of a huge exit wound in the back of his head in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence of a shot from the front. In a draft of its final report made available last month, the House committee said the assassination was prob ly a conspiracy. It based the conclusion on evidence by acoustics experts that a shot was fired at Kennedy from a location other than from the Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald is alleged to have fired three shots at the motorcade.