Marina Suspects Grave Empty, widow uncertain whether first husband was Oswald by Dan Carmichael

              PENN JONES T H E
CONTINUING
INQUIRY
VOLUME V, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 22, 1980
Sunday, November 23,1980 (Hhe Dallas ^JHornmg J^rtna
Marina suspects grave empty
Widow uncertain whether first husband was Oswald
By DAN CARMICHAEL
Untied Prni Inicrnilionil
For the first time since the assassi­nation
of President John F. Kennedy
17 years ago, the accused assassin's
widow has explained why she is "99
percent" sure his body no longer lies
in its grave.
And why she is not certain
whether the man she married — the
man charged with Kennedy's death
— really was Lee Harvey Oswald or
\ an impostor.
^ On Nov. 22,1963, a volley of bullets
in downtown Dallas ended Ken­nedy's
life and changed history.
Oswald, or the man his wife knew as
Oswald, was arrested that day for the
shooting. Two days later he was shot
to death by Jack Ruby.
Now Marina Oswald Porter. 39, the
accused assassin's Soviet-bom
widow, who has remarried, says she
is without a couptry, tired of hiding
and adamant that her first husband's
grave in Rose Hill Burial Park in Fort
Worth be opened so she — and the
world — will know the truth, wha­tever
it is.
She thinks the body may have
been removed from its grave on
Good Friday 1964 just after she
signed papers she didn't understand
for a "respectful" man who said he
was from the government.
IN THE a-HOUR interview this
month, Mrs. Porter spoke of her an­guish
in trying to live down the
Oswald name for 17 years, and her
bitterness toward Oswald's older
brother, Robert, who has fought her
in court against opening the grave.
Mrs. Porter's second husband,
Kenneth, also took part In the inter­view,
saying it was the first inter­view
he has granted since he mar-
•^ ried Marina in 1965.
•' Porter, a carpenter, said he and
his wife granted the interview in an
attempt to get legal or other help be­cause
of their limited financial re­sources.
Marina Oswald Porter . ..
"I'm tired of begging and
hiding in the closet. I'm just
going to demand."
"One of the main reasons we are
here, talking to you now, is to more
or less appeal to the public or to ap­peal
to anyone, attorney or somebody
willing to help," he said.
Mrs. Porter said, "I don't have
much time anymore" and wanted the
case resolved and the many questions
answered in her lifetime.
"At this point it's very hard to be­lieve"
the grave will ever be opened,
she said. "I'm tired of begging and
hiding in the closet. I'm just going to
demand.
"I hope the public is interested
enough to push this case off the dead
end, the dead stop," Mrs. Porter said.
"It's not just for my personal benefit,
but I think it's for the benefit of the
American people. That's the presi­dent
we're talking about, the assassi­nation.
"I demand my rights. I ask for a
very simple thing — to open a very
simple grave and see if the body still
exists. I think that's the right of any
human being.
'I really 99 percent do not believe
that the body is there. It's not there,"
she said.
"I really want to demand that (the
exhumation) to answer my ques­tions.
Seventeen years I waited. I did
not make any trouble for 17 years.
And now such a simple matter (is
being thwarted.) Which according to
the Warren Commission is simple.
"They 'proved' that it was Lee Har­vey
Oswald. They never believed in
any kind of spying connection, (or)
anything else. Isn't it better for even
the government to prove their the­ory?
Here's the possibility. If I were
them, I would jump at the chance."
THE CASE of Oswald's grave was
brought to a "dead stop" recently
when his brother Robert Oswald ob­tained
a temporary injunction in a
Texas court against reopening the
burial place.
Attorneys for British author Mi­chael
Eddowes', who says he has in­formation
Oswald was a Soviet im-poster,
have filed a notice of appeal
against the temporary injunction.
They are awaiting hearing dates for
the appeal and also are seeking an ex­pedited
bearing. Otherwise, the ap­peal
itself might not be heard for a
long time.
In addition, Mrs. Porter's attorney
is preparing a friend-of-the-court
brief to bolster Eddowes' legal posi­tion.
Until recently, Mrs Porter said,
she accepted and trusted the official
government version of the assassina­tion
as presented by the Warren Com­mission.
She considered all the con­spiracy
theorists "loony."
In fact, she said, she first signed a
form authorizing exhumation of the
grave and autopsy of its remains be­cause
she thought it would disprove
Eddowes' theory.
Mrs. Porter revealed for the first
time that she signed the consent
form only after Eddowes signed a
promise that if his theory were
disproven, he would make a public
apology to the Oswald family and the
U.S. public.
"I did not start all this to prove
Lee's innocence," she said. "I did not
believe in conspiracy theories be­fore.
But now I don't know what to
believe. They (the government) had
the facts and they told me the conclu­sions
they came up with and I swal­lowed
it just like a pill.
"I thought the conspiracy people
were loony. But then I said 'Open the
grave and see for yourself.' And all
this opposition comes up. I don't
know who's right or who's wrong or
what. I would like to find out."
Her piercing blue eyes growing
more intense, she said, "It's up to
someone stronger than me to get to
the bottom of this."
She said she is not positive — but
suspects — that Robert Oswald may
have been involv'^d in opening the
grave in the early 1960s and having
the body taken elsewhere, perhaps
for cremation.
"I do not know" if he was in­volved,
she said.
"That's just a thought," she said.
"But how can I prove it? I will know
for sure when the grave is opened. Is
it simple vandalism that nobody
knew about it (a secret grave open­ing)?
Then they shouldn't be protest­ing
against opening the grave — if
you don't have anything to hide."
She said she never expected Rob­ert
"to turn against me or to not re­spect
my wishes." Had their situa­tions
been reversed, she said, "I
would have never done that to him. If
he was doing what I am doing and ex-