Doctors Identify Body As Oswald

              VOLUME VI, NUMBER 3
PENN JONES T H E
CONTINUING
INQUIRY
OCTOBER 22,1981 1
% Ml^^ W^xnm l&tor^
Texas' Leading Newspaper
Dallas, Texas, Monday, October 5, 1981
25 Cents
Doctors identify body as Oswald
Tha Dallat Uominf Nevr Phil Hubtr
Workers move the casket containing Lee Harvey Oswald'* body ftt>m Its grave In Rose Hill Burial Park to a hearse before the examination Sunday.
Experts say
teeth,scar
primary clues
By Earl Golz
Siaft Writer 0/ The Ntvi
After 18 years sad enough paper work to fill sev­eral
libraries, a team of forensic patbologlsts said
tbey determlQed Sunday "beyond any doubt" the
body burled In Lee Harvey Oswald's grave Ij tbat at
Oswald.
The body was exhumed Sunday tnornltig from
Rose Hill Burial Park In Port Worth at the request
of Marina Oswald Porter, his former wife.
The body was transported under tight security
to the Baylor Uolverslty Medical Center basement
• Marina Oswald quettloni memos. Page 3A.
• Oswald's mother defended her ton. Page 3A.
• Oawald't body reloterred. Page 4A.
• The autopsy flndiagt. Page 4A.
• Exhumation chronology. Page 4A.
• The medical team. Page 4A.
• British auibor wanted cxhumalloo. Page 4A.
morgue ID Dallas for examination and Idenilflo
tloD by a team of four pathologists. The body was
returned to Rose Hill and reburled about 4:30 p.m.
Dr. Linda Norton, who directed the medical
team, said positive Identification was made prima,
rlly through dental records and discovery of a scar
behind one ear left from an operalloo when
Oswald was 8 years old. The body was decomposed,
but some tissue and remnants of clothing re­mained,
she said.
"The mastoid scar was discovered and
documented . . . We hope that puts the matter to
rest, and the Porters can go about living a normal
Ufe," she said.
Dental X-rays taken when Oswald was In tbe
See DOCTORS on Page 8A.
Continued from Page I A.
US Marine Corps were retrieved
froit the Marine records center in St
Loids and compared to X-reys taken
durjng the 5-hour exhumation Sun-dayj
said Dr. Norton, chief associate
medical examiner In Birmingham,
Ala,
Dr. James A. Cotlone. assistant
professor of dentistry at the Univer-sltyof
Texas Health Science Center
In San Antonio. Said members of the
medical team agreed about the Iden­tity
of the body.
There was no doubt," Cottone
saldf "The main thing we were con-certled
with was whether the dental
records had been tampered with . ..
We reached the conclusion that
thet;e was no tampering with the re­cords-
The condition of the body was
almost on the nose with what we had
exptcted, based on the time it bad
been in the ground."
Dr. Vincent DiMfllo, the Bexar
County medical examiner, said a
craok in the foundation under the
coffin allowed water to seep In, but
the Water did not affect the condlUon
of tljcbody.
••After 18 years, it Is going to be
pretty well deteriorated." DlMoio
said.
The team s first clues about the
Identity were two rings, removed
froi* Oswald's left little finger dur­ing
|he examination, that were Iden-tifieO
by Mrs POrter as the rings she
pisctd on the body Just before burial
Dr Norton said Mrs. Porter was
relifved by the exhumation and
thirvks the. ejtamination answers
qiieltions she wanted answered.
"The man she believed was in
that grave was In that grave," Dr.
Norton said.
DiMalo said IS people witnessed
the examination. Including the four
team members, four doctors who as­sisted
them, three lawyers and their
various assistants and a court re­porter.
About 40 or 50 reporters gath­ered
at the hospital to await the out­come.
"I #05 honored to be asked to par­ticipate."
DiMalo said. "The actual
identification was very simple. I was
not surprised at all at the decomposi­tion,
and I thought the body was
fairly well-preserved."
Michael Eddowes, the British
lawyer and author who first sought
the exhumation io 197S. said he was
not disappointed that his theory that
an Impostor had been burled In
Oswald's grave apparently had been
disproved.
Eddowes, in his book The Oswald
Fifes, theorized that the man who re­turned
to this country in 1962 after
defecting to Russia actually was a So­viet
agent posing as Oswald.
Mrs. Porter had disputed Ed-
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dowes' theory, but said she wanted to
know if there was a body In the grave
and If it was that of (Hwald.
"I have accomplished my objec­tive
in obtaining the exhumation,
and I am glad for those who have
steadfastly maintained the contrary
for whatever reason," Eddowes said
In a prepared statement read In a
news conference by John Collins,
one of Eddowes' attorneys.
•*It is my further hope that the
facts we've learned today will lead to
the answers to all unanswered ques­tions
surrounding the assassination
of President John Kennedy," tbe
statement said. "My main objective
has been to discover the truth in this
matter. It always will be in the fn-ture."
Collins said Eddowes will pay ex­humation
costs, estimated at $10 000
io$i;,ooo.
Jorry Plnman, an attorney repre­senting
Mrs. Porter, said she "was
pleased with the results of the au­topsy."
The exhumation effort began
about 7 am. Sunday as workers and a
small crowd — estimated at fewer
than 50 persons — assembled under a
clear sky at Rose Hill Burlfll Park in
Port Worth.
Television and newspaper report­ers,
barred from the cemetery by se­curity
guards, attempted to film the
event from nearby Rose Hill Road,
which parallels the cemetery, and
from helicopters that circled the
area. Three blue-green funeral tents
were hastily erected between the
gravesite and the road — apparently
to block photographer^' view. Several
pickups were parked beside the tents
as two yellow backhoes scraped away
the dying grass and brown soli that
covered the concrete vault.
Mrs. Poner, who in seeking the
exhumation had said she "wanted
the truth to be dug out once and for
all," sat with one of her daughters In
their gray Datsun station wagon sev­eral
feet from the grave.
Eddowes stood a short distance
away.
Oswald's brother Robert, who un­til
this week bad t>een condoctlng a
legal battle to block the exhumation,
remained at his Wichita Falls home
after agreeing to disinterment. He
would not comment
Craig Fowler, an attorney repre­senting
Robert Oswald, said the
brother "at no lime withdrew his op­position
to the proceedings." He
agreed to the exhtimailon because
the litigation had cost him between
Sl3,00p and SIS.OOO and was "causing
a good deal of stress and straio and
anguish to the present family."
Fowler said.
The Oswald casket was
unearthed shortly before 9 a.m., less
than two hours after digging began.
"The casket was really deterio­rated,"
Collins said. "There was a
crack in the vault, and water had
leaked In. The casket had Just crum­bled
to a point you could see some of
the skeletal remains through the
lop."
The remains were placed in a
temporary container and transported
by hearse to Baylor Medical Center,
where the team of pathologists began
ihelr detailed examination.
Sources said the one major fea­ture
of the body that could be
checked was the teeth. The findings
would be compared to Oswald's Ma­rine
Corps dental records.
Paul J Groody, the undertaker
who hermetically sealed the casket
In 1963 In a 3,700-pound steel rein­forced
concrete vault, would not
comment after he saw what re­mained
in the grave. "I'll have some-thing
to say, but not rtght now." be
said.
GroOdy told The Ddlloi Mornln|