JFK Assassination Forum
JFK Assassination Discussion & Debate => JFK Assassination Discussion & Debate => Topic started by: Matt Grantham on July 07, 2018, 05:47:12 PM
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The following you Tube clip I believe is Dennis David, who was a Navy enlisted man who worked at Bethesda who claims he saw autopsy photos from William Pitzer of JFK at the morgue Pitzer ends up dead in Nov 66 of a supposed suicide at Bethesda
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The following you Tube clip I believe is Dennis David, who was a Navy enlisted man who worked at Bethesda who claims he saw autopsy photos from William Pitzer of JFK at the morgue Pitzer ends up dead in Nov 66 of a supposed suicide at Bethesda
Ooooooooh Lordy....
Allan Eaglesham spent about a decade chasing the Pitzer thing. He started out thinking that Pitzer was murdered. He spent years interviewing Pitzer's family members, co-workers, and various forensic experts (including Cyril Wecht). He managed to get his hands on the case file for Pitzer's death. He finally came to the conclusion that Pitzer did indeed kill himself.
BTW, the genesis of the Pitzer-was-murdered story was a 1975 Waukeegan Sun article based on an interview with Dennis David. David's case for murder boils down to four things:
1.) Pitzer was shot by a .45 caliber handgun
2.) which was found in Pitzer's right hand,
3.) but Pitzer was left-handed
4.) He had no reason to be depressed because he had a $45,000/year (assuming 1966 $$$, that would be $200k+ today) job offer from some big network TV outfit.
As Eaglesham found from Pitzer's family and co-workers, Pitzer was
1.) shot by a .38 caliber revolver
2.) that was found on the floor by Pitzer's knee
3.) Pitzer was in fact right-handed
4.) there was no lucrative TV offer
See:
http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Pitzer/homicide.html
http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Pitzer/homrecon.html
http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Pitzer/opinion.html
http://www.manuscriptservice.com/WBP-Resolution/
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O.K But before returning to Eaglesham's four points of correction that you cite, let's at least address the question of whether he had a film at Bethesda that showed a large hole in the right rear off JFKs skull As I recall in an earlier thread it was acknowledged there were remote cameras at Bethesda that Pfitzer could have had access to If so he certainly qualifies as a potential target with anyone involved with a coverup
I am going to dig deeper into your links, but do you know if a toxicology report was done on Pfitzer off hand?
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O.K But before returning to Eaglesham's four points of correction that you cite, let's at least address the question of whether he had a film at Bethesda that showed a large hole in the right rear off JFKs skull As I recall in an earlier thread it was acknowledged there were remote cameras at Bethesda that Pfitzer could have had access to If so he certainly qualifies as a potential target with anyone involved with a coverup
I did not see anything about Pfitzer being depressed
I am going to dig deeper into your links, but do you know if a toxicology report was done on Pfitzer off hand?
Offhand, no.
And those really aren't Eaglesham's 4 points; they ultimately belong to Dennis David.
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And those really aren't Eaglesham's 4 points; they ultimately belong to Dennis David.
I assume that is some kind of metaphorical thing?
Could you answer why the Navy ruled it a suicide when all the evidence provided at that time at least pointed to homicide?
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I assume that is some kind of metaphorical thing?
Could you answer why the Navy ruled it a suicide when all the evidence provided at that time at least pointed to homicide?
Are you sure that the evidence provided actually pointed to homicide, or was it Eaglesham's inexperience and lack of training that misled him at first?
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Are you sure that the evidence provided actually pointed to homicide, or was it Eaglesham's inexperience and lack of training that misled him at first?
If I understand the Eaglesham story he claims the Navy pathologists were incorrect about their assertions of two bullet wounds, on on each side of the head, no powder residue near the wounds, or on Pitzer's hands
I thought Eaglesham's involvement was in correcting this original story, and pointing out how these original findings were incorrect
What am I missing?
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O.K But before returning to Eaglesham's four points of correction that you cite, let's at least address the question of whether he had a film at Bethesda that showed a large hole in the right rear off JFKs skull As I recall in an earlier thread it was acknowledged there were remote cameras at Bethesda that Pfitzer could have had access to If so he certainly qualifies as a potential target with anyone involved with a coverup
I am going to dig deeper into your links, but do you know if a toxicology report was done on Pfitzer off hand?
I need to come back to this to answer your question about Pitzer's alleged film. The idea is that Pitzer was able to record the autopsy via closed ckt TV.
You might want to step back and consider the following video, featuring a 1963 B&W TV camera. Look at how big it is, and that it pretty much requires someone to physically manhandle it around. Those things also needed a great deal of power, generated a lot of heat, and needed a lot of lighting in order to register a good image. I figure that, if someone were filming the autopsy, everyone in the room would know it.
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I need to come back to this to answer your question about Pitzer's alleged film. The idea is that Pitzer was able to record the autopsy via closed ckt TV.
You might want to step back and consider the following video, featuring a 1963 B&W TV camera. Look at how big it is, and that it pretty much requires someone to physically manhandle it around. Those things also needed a great deal of power, generated a lot of heat, and needed a lot of lighting in order to register a good image. I figure that, if someone were filming the autopsy, everyone in the room would know it.
OK but I am not understanding why you are not responding in regard to the suicide ruling given the evidence at the time
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If I understand the Eaglesham story he claims the Navy pathologists were incorrect about their assertions of two bullet wounds, on on each side of the head, no powder residue near the wounds, or on Pitzer's hands
I thought Eaglesham's involvement was in correcting this original story, and pointing out how these original findings were incorrect
What am I missing?
I haven't read it it a while, but...
The lack of powder tattooing around the entry wound is because the muzzle was held firmly against the head at the time of firing. In those instances, the unburned gunpowder follows the bullet into the head instead of collecting on the skin around the wound, as it would at ranges of < 3'. You also tend to see a muzzzle imprint on the skin at the entry site, and the entry on Pitzer's temple showed just such an imprint.
Eaglesham explains that the lack of a residue test to find residue on the hands is due to the sample being improperly prepared.
And I think the "two bullet wounds" refers to the entry and exit.
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OK but I am not understanding why you are not responding in regard to the suicide ruling given the evidence at the time
Mostly because I didn't sleep to well last night and skipped over that part. I partially rectified the oversight a minute ago. But if you read through all of Eaglesham's writing on the subject, he explains why things that he'd earlier considered evidence of murder turned out not to be.
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Mostly because I didn't sleep to well last night and skipped over that part. I partially rectified the oversight a minute ago. But if you read through all of Eaglesham's writing on the subject, he explains why things that he'd earlier considered evidence of murder turned out not to be.
I am not nessarily arguing whether Eaglesham did a goo job in deconstructing the evidence in the years since the Navy's initial findings, but rather why the Navy ruled the way they did
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O.K But before returning to Eaglesham's four points of correction that you cite, let's at least address the question of whether he had a film at Bethesda that showed a large hole in the right rear off JFKs skull As I recall in an earlier thread it was acknowledged there were remote cameras at Bethesda that Pfitzer could have had access to If so he certainly qualifies as a potential target with anyone involved with a coverup
I am going to dig deeper into your links, but do you know if a toxicology report was done on Pfitzer off hand?
They had just done a major upgrading at Bethesda prior to the JFK Assassination. Bethesda had state-of-the-art audio visual technical abilities when the body of JFK was first viewed by Humes at roughly 18:35 PM,. This was well in advance of the arrival of Jackie and the empty JFK coffin. Humes testified as to the 1963 cutting edge audio visual capabilities at Bethesda in addition to his viewing the body of JFK for the 1st time at roughly 18:35. The Official MD 236 of Sgt Roger Boyajian corroborates the 18:35 arrival time of JFK's body. Humes further testified that the audio visual capabilities of Bethesda were so advanced in 1963 that they frequently telecast various medical procedures and autopsy procedures LIVE to other training schools around the country. These 1963 advanced audio visual capabilities at Bethesda were the responsibility of Pitzer before, during and after 11/22/63.
With regard to the alleged Pitzer suicide, let's not forget about the CIA Hit on Pitzer that was rejected by Col Daniel Marvin.
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Thanks Royell I had seen the information on Marvin, but sometimes I like to stay focused on some of the initial issues in isolation But Mitch and I have spent enough time on trying to focus on the Navy's ruling and Eaglesham's work, to move on to other issues imo. According to some sources Pitzers Wife was terrified to comment on her Husband's supposed suicide which the family clearly did not believe in, and only began to speak about it when she was 80 years old Here is a link I really like, the second half of which goes into Marvin and the general issues of Pitzer
https://riversong.wordpress.com/the-threads-of-conspiracy-unravel/
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Thanks Royell I had seen the information on Marvin, but sometimes I like to stay focused on some of the initial issues in isolation But Mitch and I have spent enough time on trying to focus on the Navy's ruling and Eaglesham's work, to move on to other issues imo. According to some sources Pitzers Wife was terrified to comment on her Husband's supposed suicide which the family clearly did not believe in, and only began to speak about it when she was 80 years old Here is a link I really like, the second half of which goes into Marvin and the general issues of Pitzer
https://riversong.wordpress.com/the-threads-of-conspiracy-unravel/
Many witnesses were afraid to speak out due to the threat of being incarcerated at Leavenworth and Never heard from again. Also, there is the Issue of Govt Pension/$$$ being revoked. It's ridiculous to believe that at a minimum the autopsy of JFK was not recorded on audio.The U.S. Govt documents everything they do in triplicate. This would include the D Day Invasion along with the numerous A-Bomb tests that were conducted way back in the 1940's.
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I remember seeing somewhere that Pitzer couldn't have fired the pistol with his right hand as it (his right hand) was deformed.
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I am not nessarily arguing whether Eaglesham did a goo job in deconstructing the evidence in the years since the Navy's initial findings, but rather why the Navy ruled the way they did
What I get from Eaglesham's work is: as he gets his hands on more of the crime scene and autopsy materials and learns more about the underlying forensics, he comes to understand why the Navy decided Pitzer committed suicide in the first place. And at the same time he comes to the same conclusion. The "why the Navy ruled the way they did" is embedded in AE's odyssey through the evidence.
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They had just done a major upgrading at Bethesda prior to the JFK Assassination. Bethesda had state-of-the-art audio visual technical abilities when the body of JFK was first viewed by Humes at roughly 18:35 PM,. This was well in advance of the arrival of Jackie and the empty JFK coffin. Humes testified as to the 1963 cutting edge audio visual capabilities at Bethesda in addition to his viewing the body of JFK for the 1st time at roughly 18:35. The Official MD 236 of Sgt Roger Boyajian corroborates the 18:35 arrival time of JFK's body. Humes further testified that the audio visual capabilities of Bethesda were so advanced in 1963 that they frequently telecast various medical procedures and autopsy procedures LIVE to other training schools around the country. These 1963 advanced audio visual capabilities at Bethesda were the responsibility of Pitzer before, during and after 11/22/63.
With regard to the alleged Pitzer suicide, let's not forget about the CIA Hit on Pitzer that was rejected by Col Daniel Marvin.
It was only a matter of time before Dangerous Dan made an appearance!!!
Eaglesham was an early Marvin proponent. As he and Robin Palmer began working more an more with Marvin, they came to distrust the ex-Green Beret. It finally came down to this letter to Jerry Rose and The Fourth Decade:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/marvin.htm
in particular:
"We do not know whether or not Dr. Vanek is telling the truth, but we are now certain that Col. Marvin has been lying in crucial elements of his story. We know also that Col. Marvin continues to insist that his contradictory versions of key events are not mutually exclusive.
"We have come full circle. From working closely with Daniel Marvin, seeing him regularly and talking frequently on the telephone - planning to write a book together - now we are convinced that he has been dishonest with us. Where lie the limits of this deceit? It is pointless to speculate. But the implications of what he wrote in his TFD article and what he said on The Men Who Killed Kennedy are so important that we feel obliged to alert the research community of his duplicity, hence this letter."
After Eaglesham and Palmer washed their hands of Dan Marvin, Kent Heiner took up Marvin's cause, ultimately producing the book Without Smoking Gun. However, Heiner also ultimately concluded that Marvin was an untrustworthy source, and wrote about it, and Pitzer's death, on his blog. See:
https://www.memresearch.org/documents/Ghosts0.php
https://www.memresearch.org/documents/Ghosts1.php
https://www.memresearch.org/documents/Ghosts2.php
As a kind of bonus, the third page includes Pitzer's WaPo obit, and the scan of the Waukeegan paper story on Dennis David that started all this.
BTW, it's interesting to me that Marvin's story about Vaneck being solicited to kill Pitzer parallels the MLK assassination scenario that got William Pepper into a lot of trouble ("green beret assassinates someone, is later killed") when the named "assassin" turned out to be very much alive, angry, and willing to sue. Pepper has said that he'd talked with Marvin, but hasn't said that Marvin was or was not his source.
As to the Bethesda CCTV setup, "state of the art" in 1963 was still orthocons, vacuum tubes, and 400+ volt power supplies. The cameras we still large and cumbersome and needed an operator, a lot of power, and a lot of illumination to run. Like I said before, if someone was filming JFK's autopsy, everyone in the room would have known it.
If you want to discuss Boyajian, I agree with Matt: feel free to do so, but in another thread, please.
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I remember seeing somewhere that Pitzer couldn't have fired the pistol with his right hand as it (his right hand) was deformed.
According to Eaglesham, a family member was dispatched by Mrs Pitzer to retrieve the wedding band. That family member came back with a story that the ring could not be removed because of some deformity of the hand prevented removal. Eaglesham figured that the deformity story was an excuse for the family member's inability to get the ring. The reason for that is unknown. However, if the deformity existed before the suicide, Mrs Pitzer and the other Pitzers would have known about it beforehand; none of the would have asked for the ring, because they would already have known it could not be removed.
Also, any disability that would prevent you from firing a weapon will pretty much disqualifies you from active military service, with the possible exception of injuries sustained in combat or similarly in the line of duty. I've never heard anything about Pitzer sustaining such an injury.
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According to Eaglesham, a family member was dispatched by Mrs Pitzer to retrieve the wedding band. That family member came back with a story that the ring could not be removed because of some deformity of the hand prevented removal. Eaglesham figured that the deformity story was an excuse for the family member's inability to get the ring. The reason for that is unknown. However, if the deformity existed before the suicide, Mrs Pitzer and the other Pitzers would have known about it beforehand; none of the would have asked for the ring, because they would already have known it could not be removed.
Also, any disability that would prevent you from firing a weapon will pretty much disqualifies you from active military service, with the possible exception of injuries sustained in combat or similarly in the line of duty. I've never heard anything about Pitzer sustaining such an injury.
Does Eaglesham have quotes somewhere from Pitzer family members that William was right-handed and had no problems with said hand?
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Does Eaglesham have quotes somewhere from Pitzer family members that William was right-handed and had no problems with said hand?
What I know is what Eaglesham wrote:
"LEFT HAND NOT DAMAGED
I recently learned from a member of the family, who learned it from Mrs. Pitzer herself, that she had asked a third member of the family to obtain the wedding ring. The third member of the family returned without the ring with the account that a contact person in the navy had stated that the left hand was damaged, preventing removal of the ring. In contrast, the autopsy report states:
The upper and lower extremities...exhibit no remarkable gross lesions. No evidence of abrasions, contusions, or lacerations are noted in any part of the body with the exception of the head wounds.
Likewise, neither Kenneth Hersh [5] nor I saw damage to either hand in the autopsy photographs (despite information to the contrary [10]). The third member of the family may have forgotten to request the wedding ring or decided that it should stay with the deceased, and invented the story of the mangled left hand."
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The criticisms of Marvin significant Maybe he decided he was mistaken on who it was who supposedly asked him to kill Pitzer. I checked out his website. Seems like he raises some interesting questions One that struck me in terms of Mrs Pitzer's' right to know about the autopsy According to Marvin she was not allowed any information for 25 years
http://expendableelite.com/UW_archives/UW_archive.0004.html
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The criticisms of Marvin significant Maybe he decided he was mistaken on who it was who supposedly asked him to kill Pitzer. I checked out his website. Seems like he raises some interesting questions One that struck me in terms of Mrs Pitzer's' right to know about the autopsy According to Marvin she was not allowed any information for 25 years
http://expendableelite.com/UW_archives/UW_archive.0004.html
Marvin was originally certain that it was Vanek. When the ARRB was able to find Vanek, and got a statement from him denying any involvement, Marvin was suddenly equivocal. As Palmer and Eaglesham put it, Marvin's revised position "represented a significant retreat: from certainty of identification to 'who I thought to be David Vanek.'" In fact, Marvin's account changes in a number of other ways. One of the more pronounced was Marvin's original clam that he and Vanek had walked with each other talking about the assassination offer. In the new version, Marvin never got closer than 40' to the now-maybe-Vanek. When P&E began to press Marvin about the issue, Marvin became increasingly evasive to the point where he simply lost credibility with Palmer and Eaglesham. Something similar happened between Heiner and Marvin.
As for Marvin's website (assuming it wasn't actually written by one of Trine Day's copywriters), look at the following passage
"as the investigative report tells of Pitzer committing suicide by a right-handed self-inflicted handgun wound in the head and yet Pitzer?s associate whom he had shared the fact and the essence of his secret possession of the autopsy photos, Dennis D. David, told me unequivocally, when I first spoke with him, that his friend William Bruce Pitzer was indeed left handed."
If you've gone through Eaglesham's recounting of his investigation into Pitzer's death, you might have noticed this:
"In a telephone conversation with Daniel Marvin in 1995, of which I have an audiotape, Mrs. Pitzer stated clearly that her husband had been right-handed [4]:
Marvin: Was he -- was Bill -- right-handed or left-handed?
Mrs. Pitzer: He was right-handed.
Marvin: Right-handed."
This was before Marvin started working with Heiner, and before the Expendable Elite book/website came out. He knew Pitzer was right-handed, so why not tell us?
Now, I expect you were wondering about this particular claim: "Why was the widow Pitzer refused a copy of her husband?s autopsy for 25 years after his death?" My question is, was she really refused? Or is Marvin(and/ or his Trine Day ghost) simply trying to insinuate something sinister where they is no evidence by asking an open-ended question?
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So Hersch was the only expert to examine the 20 autopsy photographs?
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So Hersch was the only expert to examine the 20 autopsy photographs?
Eaglesham sent copies of the photos plus a report of his discoveries/findings to Cyril Wecht and Herbert McDonnell for their input.
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Eaglesham sent copies of the photos plus a report of his discoveries/findings to Cyril Wecht and Herbert McDonnell for their input.
Wecht did not respond I assume
Were the original navy autopsy examiners contacted
I see nothing to indicate a person is less likely to have gunshot residue on their hands than other shootings It is tough to find estimates, at least for me, on how reliable they were in 63
It is also unclear on the protocol for when toxicology test should be preformed. Couldn't find anything clear online so i used a platform for ask a pathologist . will see if I get a response
This link was interesting and included the following oints
The FBI estimates the gun was 3 feet from Pitzers head
Pitzer supposedly checks out the gun the day of the his death but the signature is illegible
Several notes are found that Pitzer was writing right before his death One of these notes has a shoe print that was not Pitzers
Fracture, comminuted, supraorbital plate, sphenoid bone, left... After removal of the brain a third defect in the bony skull is encountered. This consists of a large defect in the left supra-orbital plate measuring 3.0 x 1.0 cm.
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKpitzerW.htm
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At this point I am inclined to feel that the note Pitzer has written near, or at the time of, a possible attack, and which contains a partial unidentified heel print,is perhaps the most damning evidence for murder. anyone want to be posit another explanation? Does Eaglesham ever mention it?
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Wecht did not respond I assume
Were the original navy autopsy examiners contacted
I see nothing to indicate a person is less likely to have gunshot residue on their hands than other shootings It is tough to find estimates, at least for me, on how reliable they were in 63
It is also unclear on the protocol for when toxicology test should be preformed. Couldn't find anything clear online so i used a platform for ask a pathologist . will see if I get a response
This link was interesting and included the following points
The FBI estimates the gun was 3 feet from Pitzers head
Who shoots himself in the head with a pistol held three feet from his head?
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Wecht did not respond I assume
Were the original navy autopsy examiners contacted
Wecht did respond: http://www.manuscriptservice.com/WBP-Resolution/WechtConversation.pdf
I see nothing to indicate a person is less likely to have gunshot residue on their hands than other shootings It is tough to find estimates, at least for me, on how reliable they were in 63
There was residue:
"I believe that they missed an important clue in this regard, which is present in the autopsy photographs: William Pitzer's left hand had a heavy deposit of soot on the palm and his right hand had a heavy deposit of soot on the backs of the fingers. This suggests that he held and fired the revolver with his right hand, and steadied it with his left hand held over the barrel. Soot and gunshot residue would thus be propelled into the wound or would be blocked by the palm of the left hand as it escaped from around the barrel, some of which would be deflected over the backs of the fingers of the right hand"
It is also unclear on the protocol for when toxicology test should be preformed. Couldn't find anything clear online so i used a platform for ask a pathologist . will see if I get a response
This link was interesting and included the following points
[1] The FBI estimates the gun was 3 feet from Pitzers head
[2] Pitzer supposedly checks out the gun the day of the his death but the signature is illegible
[3] Several notes are found that Pitzer was writing right before his death One of these notes has a shoe print that was not Pitzers
[4]Fracture, comminuted, supraorbital plate, sphenoid bone, left... After removal of the brain a third defect in the bony skull is encountered. This consists of a large defect in the left supra-orbital plate measuring 3.0 x 1.0 cm.
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKpitzerW.htm
I numbered the points in barckets to make my response a bit clearer.
1.) The "gun was at least 3' away" issue has already been explained. The muzzle was held again the skin, so burning powder followed the
bullet directly into the head, instead of spreading out after clearing the muzzle and tattooing the area around the wound.
2.) The illegible signature implies what, exactly? Mine's not particularly easy to decipher, and I've yet to see a doctor's signature that doesn't look like some kind of alien pictograph from the LSD planet.
3.) Eaglesham described the shoe print as:
"One of the note-pages lying on the floor bore a partial heel print that was not linked with the deceased - described as a style used by the Goodyear Rubber Company. The print was photographed by the FBI 'for possible future reference.'"
But what does it really mean? Could have been the person who found the body, or a clumsy investigator. It might also have been made well before the death.
4.) This fracture is due to cavitation effects caused by the bullets passage.
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I do not have time to respond to the other issues at the moment
From Eagleshams website
If [Dennis] David had not been mistaken about which hand was Pitzer's dominant hand, he may not have mentioned his late friend to any reporter or researcher; few outside Pitzer's family and acquaintances would know his name or his story.
When forensic expert Herbert MacDonell opined that the death-scene photograph shows a bullet wound in the left temple, I felt certain that William Pitzer had been murdered. However, my meeting with SA DiPaola, viewing of the autopsy photographs, and reconsideration of the available information, have brought me to the belief that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted
From the Education forum in 2012
John Simkin said:
(4) Do you believe William Pitzer was murdered?
Dennis David replied
(4) I have read the autopsy report, the Investigation report of Bills death, and other material. I am not convinced he committed suicide, nor am I convinced he was murdered.
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This link includes a transcript of a conversation between Marvin and Mrs Pitzer. She staes she was told to keep quiet on the subject, did not get an autopsy for 25 years, and was still reluctant to talk evven at te time of interview
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/4267-william-pitzer-reappraisal-of-suicide/
From John Kays
But I have to believe David when he remembered W. B. dealing cards with his left hand. Also, favoring David, is support from eye-witnesses that Pitzer was present at JFK?s autopsy. But what I don?t understand, is why family members say he had been left-handed (in their initial statements)?
Eaglesham's dismissal of the film and claiming that Custer lied suggests a bias on almost every aspect of this case
From William Dankbaar
Additionally, testimony was received by the review board that Mr. Pitzer was, at the time of his death, in possession of a 16 millimeter film of the autopsy which he had taken during the autopsy examination and been working on at the time he was murdered. The film disappeared and has never again surfaced. No one from any of the five governmental investigations has seen any of these other three sets
Also I have seen a comment that Mrs Pitzer was threatened with losing Pitzer's pension if she did not remain quiet, and am hoping to find more on that
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Bill Pitzer was shot to death on October 29, 1966. His body was discovered at 7:50 P.M. on the floor of the TV production studio of the National Naval Medical Center, Pitzer?s working area. The estimated time of his death was approximately 4:00 P.M.[583] As an FBI teletype reported early the next morning, the victim was found dead with a gunshot wound in his head and a thirty-eight caliber revolver lying close to his body.[584] Pitzer?s body was found lying face down ?with the head extending under the lower rung of two aluminum step ladders which were leaning against a foundation post.?[585] Following a joint investigation by the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) and the FBI, the Navy ruled that Bill Pitzer had committed suicide.[586] The members of his family were certain that he had not.
The Navy investigative board?s verdict of suicide rested on its claim that Pitzer ?was experiencing marital difficulty and was intimately associated with another woman.?[587] Bill Pitzer?s friends and family resisted the board?s theory of suicide and Pitzer?s supposed motivation, both of which contradicted their knowledge of the man.[588]
The Navy?s claim that Pitzer had an ultimately fatal affair was based on ?an unsigned, undated summary report of two interviews [with an unnamed woman] conducted by unnamed NIS
agents.?[590] The obscurity of the investigation, whose interviews were kept secret and inaccessible until they had been ?routinely destroyed,?[591] made it impossible to scrutinize the Navy?s allegation of the character defect that presumably caused Pitzer?s suicide. If Pitzer was instead killed by government forces, the Navy was adding to that crime its assassination of his character.
Bill Pitzer?s film of John F. Kennedy?s body has never been found. One investigator hypothesized that Pitzer had stored the film in his TV production studio?s false ceiling. The upright ladder under which his head was found after his death was seen as a clue. It could have been the means by which Pitzer, or an assassin, climbed up to retrieve the film from its hiding place the final afternoon of Pitzer?s life. He was then shot to death, and the film vanished.[596]
In regard to the idea that the investigators of Pitzer's death may have stepped on the papers that contained the shoe print. Here are the names of four people that were involved in that investigation Did Eaglesham ever contacted them in regard to the note?
The duty officer was alerted. Ensign J.M. Quarles and Security Patrol Officer T.E. Blue opened the locked door to Pitzer?s television-studio office at 7:50 PM, and found a body on the floor, the head resting in a pool of coagulated blood, a revolver lying close by. Death was pronounced by Medical Officer Lieutenant Commander R.W. Steyn at 8:10 PM, and identification was made by Captain J.H. Stover and Lt. Cdr. J.G. Harmeling; the corpse was that of Lt. Cmdr. William B. Pitzer of the US Navy Medical Service Corps.