If Oswald Was The Assassin, Did He Plan His Escape From The TSBD Very Well?

[Dan O'meara]

Maybe we can conduct an exercise to establish common ground and see what can be concluded. I would include Dan in this (and anyone else who would like to participate rationally).

First question, were remnants of a lunch, an empty Dr Pepper bottle, chicken bones, including an unfinished piece, a lunch sack and Doritos bag found on the sixth floor by police about half an hour after the shots?

I'll start the ball rolling with Luke Mooney's next day 'Sheriff's Report':

"I then went on back to the 6th floor and went direct to the far corner and then discovered a cubby hole which had been constructed out of cartons which protected it from sight and found where someone had been in an area of perhaps 2 feet surrounded by cardboard cartons of books. Inside this cubby hole affair was three more boxes so arranged as to provide what appeared to be a rest for a rifle. On one of these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. The minute that I saw the expended shells on the floor..."

To me this report isn't ringing any alarm bells. A description of the SN and a rifle rest. It seems that the half-eaten piece of chicken (I'm assuming this is a piece of fried chicken on the bone) is his first real observation. However, no mention of a lunch bag, soda bottle, Fritos etc just the chicken piece.
That it was half-eaten cries out that the owner was interrupted whilst eating it. In my mind it also demonstrates a lack of professionalism if we are talking about a trained assassin here. On a job this big it is difficult to imagine a professional hitman bringing his lunch with him.

[Colin Crow]

I think that the basics are fairly straightforward. The inclusion of the Doritos bag may not be essential but was mentioned by Studebaker during his WC testimony.

Unless anyone objects I believe we can agree that the lunch remnants were found on the 6th floor within half an hour or so of the shots.

My next question is, in what state were they originally found? Were all the chicken bones inside the lunch sack or were there bones outside the bag?

[Colin Crow]

Something else to consider. The chicken lunch and pop bottle were widely considered to be the assassin's for days. We know Studebaker dusted the bottle and likely the lunch sack in situ. They left the building about 3pm with Det Johnson and were entered into evidence by him about 3.20pm.

Does anyone think Day checked these items for Oswald's prints before Vince Drain was provided the evidence that night? Methinks he was preoccupied with CE139. Why doesn’t the pop bottle and lunch sack appear on that list of items transferred to the FBI? After all, Day by his own admission did not discover that another TSBD employee had eaten lunch on the 6th floor until Monday 25th. Why with hold it from the FBI for analysis? You can add the wooden weatherstrip to that select group also.

[Joffrey van de Wiel]

I would be very careful with any admissions by Day, remember that palm print?

The palm print is such an obvious plant, you could water it and call it a Dahlia. 

[Dan O'meara]

Something else to consider. The chicken lunch and pop bottle were widely considered to be the assassin's for days. We know Studebaker dusted the bottle and likely the lunch sack in situ. They left the building about 3pm with Det Johnson and were entered into evidence by him about 3.20pm.

Does anyone think Day checked these items for Oswald's prints before Vince Drain was provided the evidence that night? Methinks he was preoccupied with CE139. Why doesn’t the pop bottle and lunch sack appear on that list of items transferred to the FBI? After all, Day by his own admission did not discover that another TSBD employee had eaten lunch on the 6th floor until Monday 25th. Why with hold it from the FBI for analysis? You can add the wooden weatherstrip to that select group also.

In his WCT Day states:
"... there was a sack of some chicken bones and a bottle brought into the identification bureau. I think I still have that sack and bottle down there. The chicken bones, I finally threw them away that laid around there. In my talking to the men who were working on that floor, November 25, they stated, one of them stated, he had eaten lunch over there.
Is he saying he still has the bottle and sack at the DPD as late his WC testimony?

[Colin Crow]

In his WCT Day states:
"... there was a sack of some chicken bones and a bottle brought into the identification bureau. I think I still have that sack and bottle down there. The chicken bones, I finally threw them away that laid around there. In my talking to the men who were working on that floor, November 25, they stated, one of them stated, he had eaten lunch over there.
Is he saying he still has the bottle and sack at the DPD as late his WC testimony?

It would appear that he did not have Williams prints until mid June 1964. A month after his WC testimony he provided this.



In his WC testimony Day claimed he discovered the owner of the lunch on Monday 25 November. Until that time Williams had provided this to authorities about his movements and activities.

11/22/63 DPD

In his initial statement nothing about visiting the 6th floor to eat lunch that day. He stated that the shots came from above. The floor laying crew were all brought in for questioning that day because they worked on that floor. We can conclude he is aware the 6th floor is a "spot of keen interest" to the police yet does not  mention that he had been there. His statement implies that after leaving the 6th floor to break for lunch he went to the 5th floor with Jarman and Norman and that they were there only a short time before the shooting.

11/23/63 FBI

Williams now tells of the lunch trip to the 6th floor. There are no details provided as to the contents of the lunch. He claimed he went back upstairs about 12. His stay on the 6th floor only lasts three minutes before joining Jarman and Norman on the 5th floor.

He had not spoken of any lunch components or even any position on the east side of the building. After Day's discovery Williams provided this on December 2.

Williams collected his lunch from the first floor and went to the 6th floor. He sat at windows "in the centre of the building". A Dr Pepper bottle and chicken bones  (no mention of a lunch bag) were left together on the floor. He didn't see or hear anyone and only ate his lunch for a few minutes. The lunch was "finished" and he left immediately for the 5th floor prior to 12.15pm. (Note 12.15 is mentioned specifically, one doesn’t need to be Einstein to know the relevance of that).

[Colin Crow]

I think that the basics are fairly straightforward. The inclusion of the Doritos bag may not be essential but was mentioned by Studebaker during his WC testimony.

Unless anyone objects I believe we can agree that the lunch remnants were found on the 6th floor within half an hour or so of the shots.

My next question is, in what state were they originally found? Were all the chicken bones inside the lunch sack or were there bones outside the bag?

Anyone want to dispute the idea that the evidence suggests that originally at least one chicken bone was found outside the lunch sack?