TOTAL GARBAGE!! Here are the facts:

From the OP:

FACT #2: There were no fingerprints or face-prints of Lee on the rifle until after the police and FBI visited the funeral home were Lee's body was being prepared. The funeral director stated in an interview that after the police left, there was fingerprinting ink on Lee's fingers. That was not there before the police got there.

Think this one through, and you'll see a gaping hole in the logic. If DPD and the FBI were going to frame Oswald, they would have done it at their leisure while his body was still in the morgue. Besides, fingerprinting is standard procedure when a body comes to the coroner, especially after a murder, so the logical conclusion here is that the mortician was incorrect.

Here is the copyrighted story by one M Duke Lane.

Grave Doubts: A Report on the Exhumation and Autopsy of
the Remains of Lee Harvey Oswald
================================
Copyright (C) 1992 by M. Duke Lane

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[This text may be reproduced in any form provided only that it is not sold or
published in any fee- or subscription-based publication.]

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In the nearly thirty years since JFK was killed in Dallas' Dealey Plaza,
there have been many mysterious and sinister rumors which have circulated
about this case. Not all of these have been proven correct or are
substantiated by evidence, but it remains that if told often enough by enough
people, such rumors often come to be accepted as "fact" by many of the people
following the progress of the assassination investigation. This is especially
true of allegations which appear in print in multiple authors' works.

One of the rumors which sprang up some time ago surrounds the exhumation of
LHO's body from its grave at Rosehill Cemetery in Fort Worth, TX. Apparently,
this rumor began with a statement by the mortician who had attended to LHO's
body prior to its burial. The mortician had stated following the exhumation
that the cement burial vault had been found "broken open" when the exhumation
began and that, moreover, LHO's skull not only didn't show evidence of a
craniotomy (cutting of the skull bones to facilitate examination of the brain
during autopsy), and the head was discovered severed from the body upon
exhumation.

This of course led to speculation that sometime between when LHO was buried)
and when his body was exhumed for examination, the casket was dug up and the
head of the accused assassin replaced with that of the "real" LHO, who'd in
actuality had nothing to do with the assassination at all. This supposedly
resulted in extensive damage to the cement-and-steel burial vault, which was
said to have been "broken open " on disinterrment.

This "planted head" (no pun intended) scenario leads us to believe that the
conspirators were so meticulous and omniscient that no detail escaped them,
not even the far-off contingency that someday, someone would want to exhume
the accused assassin's body to identify it by dental examination. It ascribes
to them such dark powers as the ability to dig up the grave at some
unspecified date unnoticed by anyone including Rosehill groundskeepers. It
implicates Fort Worth and Rosehill Cemetery officials and the exhumation
examiners as being witting or unwitting co-conspirators, "part of the
cover-up" by accident or design.

There are enough strange goings-on, enough lies and obfuscations, enough
unanswered questions about the JFK assassination without adding the
improbable and unsubstatiated, into which categorization this scenario must
certainly fall. It is preposterous and the facts simply do not bear out the
theory, as the following discussion will show.

Background
----------
Before examining the exhumation and autopsy itself, let us first review the
background against which this scenario is set. Who wanted LHO's body exhumed
in the first place and why? What were the circumstances which led up to the
exhumation?

In 1977, British author published a book[1] alleging that a look-alike
Russian agent, who had been the real assassin, had been buried in LHO's
place. To prove this theory, Eddowes entered into a series of legal
wranglings which eventually included the Tarrant and Dallas County Medical
Examiners' offices, Marina Oswald Porter, Lee's brother Robert Oswald, and at
least two courts. Perhaps typically, the Medical Examiners couldn't agree who
held jurisdiction over the matter (LHO was killed in Dallas County, but is
buried in Tarrant County). Marina sided with Eddowes, although she in fact
believed that the grave was empty. Robert wished to avoid the publicity he
knew would arise from the exhumation, and managed to delay the exhumation for
a little over a year.

Finally, on October 3, 1981, the way was cleared for the exhumation and
autopsy to take place. Marina refused to allow Lee's remains to leave the
Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the counties involved, citing "adverse
publicity," refused to allow county facilities to be used for the
examination. It had been decided earlier that the examination site must be
able to be effectively secured against all intrusions; an additional
consideration was the willingness of the staff to have their normal routine
disrupted and deal with possible controversy that could be expected from a
case of this nature. At last, permission was received from Baylor Hospital of
Dallas' Department of Pathology to use their facility, where it was conducted
the following day, October 4, 1981.

The examination team was selected by Marina and Eddowes, and included two
forensic pathologists and two forensic odontologists and their assistants[2].
All expenses were borne by Eddowes. Baylor accepted a nominal fee for the use
of their facilities, and the doctors worked for expenses only due to the
controversial nature of the case. At least one of the attorneys involved had
received no compensation for his efforts as late as 1984. These facts are
cited to allay any suspicions that the examination team was chosen by anyone
but those closest to the case, and that none of the participants were
involved for personal enrichment. It can be easily asserted that there was no
"outside direction" or "ulterior motives" involved in this endeavor: it was
100% above-board.

The Exhumation
--------------
Originally, it was planned to remove both the casket and cement burial vault
intact, to transport them to the vault company to be opened, and then to
proceed to Baylor. The doctors' report[3]--from which this information is
largely drawn--notes that backhoes began work shortly after dawn and worked
as speedily as safe and possible for better security and to allow the
cemetery to open for regular visitation as soon as possible. Even despite the
early hour, a small crowd had gathered at Rosehill Cemetery.

When the vault was exposed, it was immediately noted to be cracked--not
"broken open" as later reports had it. The plan to transport the intact vault
and casket was abandoned, and workers removed the lid of the concrete vault,
finding the casket to be severely water damaged. It is noted in the report
that "the cover was weak in many areas, and in one place had caved in
partially exposing the remains." So much, one would have to admit, for the
"high-grade, steel-reinforced vault" described by the mortician!

By the time the casket had been removed and placed in a waiting hearse at
9:00 am, a large crowd of spectators and news media representatives had
gathered. Concerns about security were relieved that these onlookers assumed
that the body would be taken to the Dallas Institute of Forensic Science (at
Parkland Hospital, a county facility which, as was noted earlier, could not
be used), and the casket was able to be offloaded at Baylor without incident.
It was taken into an examination room that had only one doorway, and to enter
that room, one must have walked throught two anterooms. It was, by any
standard, a secure examination site; there was no possibility of interference
or shenanigans.

The Examination
---------------
LHO's remains arrived at Baylor at 9:20 am, shortly after departing Rosehill
Cemetery. Security, as already noted, was of paramount importance, especially
to Marina who was concerned about publication of unauthorized publication of
photographs as had occurred earlier. The autopsy team was directed to take
only close-up documentary photographs as necessary to complete and verify
their identification of the body. Even still, a family friend videotaped the
entire proceeding (the tape has never surfaced). Security was handled by a
private agency chosen by the attorneys. The examination was not able to be
compromised in any way, and was totally under the control of the principal
parties.

Lest there be any doubt remaining about the integrity and security of the
examination, members of the news media were totally excluded from the
proceeding with the exception of one UPI reporter who was allowed only so far
as the anteroom (by agreement with the attorneys). The only persons present
during the proceedings were the four members of the examination team,
assisted by one pathology technician and one dental radiology technician. The
head of the Baylor pathology department and his chief associate helped with
the Baylor equipment, and a court reporter recorded the proceedings. Also
present were attorneys for Eddowes, Marina Porter, Robert Oswald and Rosehill
Cemetery, and the aforementioned family friend taping the proceeding.

But wait! What about the mortician? Wasn't he there? After all, he is the one
who told us about the severed head, the lack of a craniotomy, the one who
stirred the dark seeds of mystery and conspiracy for all the world to ponder.
Isn't he mentioned anywhere?

In point of fact, he is. The doctors' report devotes an entire sentence to
this man: "The mortician who closed Mr. Oswald's casket remained in the room
until the casket was re-opened" [emphasis added]. It is implicit in this
statement that, upon the opening of the casket (which we will speculate
included his identification of the remains as being dressed as the body he
buried in 1963), he left the room. This means that he was not present during
the medical or dental examinations, would not have seen a "severed head," and
most certainly did not witness the condition of the skull, least of all in
the detail he claims!

It would be possible to end the discussion here, for unless the doctors,
author Eddowes, Marina Oswald Porter, Robert Oswald and their respective
attorneys are all "part of the plot," we have seen conclusively that the
story told by the mortician is pure fabrication, that he did not in fact
witness the examination and was not in a position to make the observations he
claimed and which were duly reported by "researchers." Certainly, there is
nothing to be gained by describing the examination step by step, and in the
interests of space and decency, I will decline to do so.

It would be possible, except that in exposing the myth, it is important to
also set the record straight, to air the true facts. I won't describe the
condition of the body except to say that, considering the water damage to the
casket, you can imagine that it was not well-preserved. The casket materials
were largely rotted, the clothing was in various states of disintegration,
but each could be reasonably easily identified (the report goes so far as to
describe "a relatively intact pair of white with green diamond pattern boxer
undershorts" on the body!). The body itself was "markedly decomposed," but in
position suggestive of the "funeral photo" seen by many in various works on
the case. LHO's gold wedding band and a "red stone ring" were on the little
finger of his left hand (both were later identified by Marina as ones she had
placed upon her husband's hand when he'd been buried 21 years before).

The report specifically states that "the body as existed in the coffin showed
no evidence of mutilation other than postmortem disintegration," [emphasis
added] meaning very simply that the head was not severed prior to the
examination, and it was not replaced by a person or persons unknown operating
mysteriously in the dead of night.

So what about the "severed head?" Again the report is explicit: "The head was
removed from the remainder of the body by incision of the mummified soft
tissue maintaining the skull, cervical and thoracic vertebral column in
normal continuity." Note the words "incision of the mummified soft tissue."
Clearly, the doctors are describing the corpse which they were examining,
stating that they severed the head; they'd already confirmed that there was
"no evidence of mutilation," and also that everything was "in normal
continuity." Not words which would describe a head being chopped off of a
buried man and replaced by a free-standing skull of another man.

The head was removed from the corpse for one very simple reason: the body was
in sufficiently poor condition that the doctors did not wish to move it any
more than absolutely necessary. In fact, they limited their examination to
the anterior (front) not wishing to risk any greater damage to the body than
was required for their examination.

What about the missing craniotomy cuts? Again, the report: "A previous
autopsy saw cut in the usual fashion was present on the calvarium with an
anterior inverted V-notch in the right frontal region." In short, it was not
missing. The report does indicate that "the previously sawed calvarium was
not separated nor was it easily dislodged;" the team did not make any further
attempts to satisfy themselves that this was authentic since their purpose
was to conduct a dental examination of the deceased Oswald, not to perform a
complete post-mortem autopsy.

The team continued with its dental examination using LHO's Marine dental
records and satisfied themselves--the report goes into great detail about the
teeth and their comparison to the 1956 dental records--that the body in the
coffin was indeed that of LHO. "Positive dental identification was made," and
was duly reported at a 3:00 news conference held at Baylor Medical Center by
the examination team. "The remains in the grave marked as Lee Harvey Oswald
are indeed Lee Harvey Oswald," they said. The news conference was held just
as the remains of Lee Oswald were being transported back to Rosehill Cemetery
for reinterment in a new casket and vault.

The historical medical record directly opposes the claims made by the
mortician, and completely debunks the myth of the severed head. We can only
speculate upon the motivations of the mortician--who, throughout this article
has remained deliberately unnamed--for making these claims. That they were
repeated in print and lectures so many times and for so long, tending to
establish the claims as "fact," demonstrates the lack of research which has
gone into many books, and the reliance that the public has upon the
"authorities" on the Kennedy assassination to learn the truth of this event.
Hopefully, this discussion will lead readers to not accept everything that
they read as gospel, and to occasionally question the "authorities" when
their claims are as strange and ominous this was.

No matter the perspective one adopts, it is always good to remember the
ancient axiom: "Not is all as it seems to be." This was yet another case in
support of it.

END NOTES
---------
1. Eddowes, Michael, The Oswald File, Clarkson N. Potter, New York, 1977

2. The examination team consisted of Linda E. Norton, MD, the team's chief
forensic pathologist and former Dallas County Medical Examiner; James A.
Cottone, DMD, MS, Associate Professor and head of the Section of Forensic
Odontology, Department of Dental Diagnostic Science, The University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School; Irvin M. Sopher, DDS, MD,
Chief Medical Examiner for the State of West Virginia, South Charleston, WV
and clinical professor of pathology, West Virginia University School of
Medicine and Marshall University School of Medicine; and Vincent J. M.
DiMaio, MD, Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner, San Antonio, TX.

3. Norton, et al, "The Exhumation and Identification of Lee Harvey Oswald,"
Journal of Forensic Sciences, Official Publication of the American Academy of
Forensic Sciences (JFSCA), Volume 29, Number 1, January 1984, pp 19-38.

Please note the highlighted section and then read the rest of the report. This same mortician said that there was no ink on LHO's fingers prior to the visit by DPD and the FBI to the funeral home and it only appeared after they were there.

The mortician mentioned in the story, was identified as the same man who prepared LHO for burial. Taken altogether, I'd say that the credibility of the mortician has taken a gigantic nose-dive, at least to me.

Besides that, you don't bring latent fingerprints forth by putting ink on the hands. That is done to ink a card in order to establish or confirm the person's identity. And like I said that would have been done at the morgue.

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