On the Trail of Delusion, Episode 21 with Dr. Chad Zimmerman
- Fred Litwin
- 1 day ago
- 12 min read
Updated: 13 hours ago
Here are Dr. Zimmerman's notes from his examination of the autopsy materials:
Original Dictation
September 27, 2004
This tape was dictated on September 27th, 2004, and pertains to my observations at the National Archives at College Park, MD on September 23, 2004.
I awoke early at approximately 6:00am on the 23rd to begin preparation for my trip to College Park. I was staying with a college classmate who lives in Germantown, MD. I was told about an hour and a half of traffic would be forthcoming. I arrived early at the archives at about 8:15 in the morning. I was to meet Mr. Larry Sturdivan from Santa Fe, New Mexico at about 9:00 in the morning. I arrived and gathered my equipment, took a photo of the archives building. I went through the security checkpoint. I then obtained my researcher pass and was told to stow away my carry along items which included my scanner, laptop, stereoscope and various notes in the lockers on the basement floor. After doing so, I returned to the lobby area where I obtained information that I was to head to the second floor. I entered the second floor and was given the number to reach Martha Murphy at the archives. I called her and she told me she would meet me in about 15 minutes on the main floor. I proceeded to the main floor and waited for Mr. Sturdivan to arrive. He did promptly at approximately 9:00 or 9:05 in the morning. He obtained his researcher’s pass. We then met Martha Murphy at which time we were escorted to the second floor for our private viewing of the autopsy materials.
We entered the room which was a small, elongated rectangular room that was approximately 10 by 20 feet long. We were asked which materials that we would prefer to view first. We were in the company of Martha Murphy, a man with the first name of James and Marty McGann. Larry and I decided that we would like to view the x-ray materials to begin with. We proceeded to view the AP and lateral x-rays.
The AP and lateral x-rays were much clearer than the available scans to the public. There are two lateral films. One is a left lateral and one is a right lateral film. We initially spent quite a bit of time looking at the AP film. I wanted to try and ascertain a little bit of the position of the teeth, particularly in the maxilla to try and orient the film’s presentation period. It is obvious on the film that there is some extension to the President’s head. His front teeth overlap the top tip of the odontoid process. We noticed about a 9mm tilt to the dentition. I think Larry took a little bit better notes as far as how that was measured. That was more of his measurement than mine. The width of the skull was measured to be 17cm at its greatest width, which was across the top one-third of the orbit. The measurement is closely correlated on the enhanced AP at about 17.5cm at its greatest width in the same locale. I did sketch a little bit of the AP. I did not look too closely at fracture patterns as there was extensive disruption to the cortex in the posterior fossa period. I did try to sketch a little bit of the fragment patterns. We did notice the two small areas of heat damage to the films. One of them was located at approximately between a one and two o’clock position as it relates to the right orbit and is seen superior and lateral to that margin. There appears to be four white fragments consistent with metal densities located roughly equally spaced in the burn area. We did not measure that particular area although it was quite small and approximated the size of a nickel or so. The other area was a little bit further and more lateral to the upper quarter of the orbit. This one did seem to show a couple of areas that would be consistent with metallic densities. The 6.5mm fragment density does certainly appear to be metallic in origin. There is a differential density pattern noted to that density. It is a little bit more well-defined on this film and is not quite perfectly circular as it shows on the enhanced view that we look at. There are several fragments inferior to that as well as one that is just about- just left of the midpoint of the right orbit. Other larger fragments were seen into the right superior hemisphere. This cavity would had to have contained some brain matter and likely those fragments were a part of that tissue.
We observed on the lateral film- noted a density near the posterior cowlick area. There were no grid lines associated with this and this was originally thought to be due to some discoloration or damage on the film. However, other areas of known metallic density did not show these and this would be because no photons are reaching the screen and illuminating in that area. We noticed approximately a 5degree downward tilt using the known measurements of the external acoustic meatus to the inferior orbital rim. This would be on the lateral film. There is a horizontal line visualized on the lateral film. This line is parallel to the bottom film edge at about 126mm from that bottom film edge. There was a brown pencil mark within the margins of the odontoid process. There was also an oblique line noted which intersects posteriorly with the horizontal film plane line. We measured the forward tilt on the lateral film- the enhanced version- and again measured 4.5-5 degrees of forward head flexion based upon the EAM and the inferior orbital rim.
Looking at the AP view it was obvious there were no fragment densities anywhere in the left hemisphere of the brain. I did have a chance to sketch just a little bit of the teeth. Total width from left to right was 82mm. The width of the front teeth was 24mm and there was an 8mm from the inferior margin of the front teeth and a horizontal line connecting the inferior margins of the molars. The two front teeth were 8mm above that line, indicating a small degree of extension to the President’s head.
We did look at the lateral enhanced x-ray that was done for the HSCA. This was on normal x-ray film. It was easily seen that this image was brightened to lighten up some of the darker areas. There did appear to be an area in the posterior fossa that would be close to the Warren Commission entry point that showed what appeared to be a little bit of a lucency on the film consistent with what could be a little bit of beveling to the interior table margin. In addition, there is a little bit of anterior displacement to the superior margin of that area. The thickness of posterior fossa on that point on the x-ray is about 13-14mm. I have a notation here in my notes that says, “the inferior EOP to the superior margin of the inferior orbital rim is parallel to drawn in horizontal line”.
Looking at the lateral enhanced HSCA x-ray, the posterior fragment that would be close to the cowlick area is not metal. In fact, there is one little tiny area of it that does extend beyond the posterior table of the skull. This could place the fragment somewhat to the outside. There are no grid lines within the fragment and it is just a little bit lighter than the bone area, which would be consistent with a piece of bone overlapping another area of bone density. The #3 lateral x-ray is pretty cut off, estimating about 15% of the dimension of the skull being removed from the posterior aspect of that film. This makes reading of the posterior area useless. Next on te #3 lateral, the radiodensity that appeared to be within the cortex on the #2 lateral shows itself to be outside of the cortex margins just above the supraorbital rim. I did sketch this into my notes. We had an opportunity to look at the x-ray of the recovered bone fragments. There wre 3 bone fragments in all. We specifically looked at the #6 film, which was very good. The #4 film was very dark. Of interest was the larger of the fragments which was a triangular shaped fragment with a curved edge on one side. The fragment measured 9.3 cm at its largest length and 6.2cm and its largest width. One margin of the fragment did show obvious suture markings. There was also a lot of lead depositing to one corner of this fragment. Again I sketched this fragment into my notes.
We looked at the photographs.
We noted on the right superior photograph that the area of the neck wound is actually much smaller than is seen and described in the photographs that we have to look at. The black and white #5 photograph. Of these photographs that we’ve looked at, especially the color films, the #26 was the first to be taken as evidenced by the amount of blood drops on the cloth that is laid beneath his head. The wound itself was a little bit smaller than I had anticipated and was demarcated with a small, light-colored area on the superior margin. Otherwise, the wound itself is very dark and such characteristics are a little bit hard to determine.
On the right superior view, it is evident that the flap area visualized is scalp only and does not contain bone. There were no signs of any frontal entries- soft tissue cratering, anything such as that that could be seen on those photographs. It was evident that the top of the head photographs were taken after the right superior profile, which shows the neck wound. This is due to the blood drops on the drop cloth beneath the head.
Next, we looked at what has become known in the research lore as the ‘back of the head views’. These would be the F8 series of photographs, or the 44, 45 pictures. These also include black and white and color. There were 2 or 3 colors that we visualized and 3,4 or 5 black and whites. The #44 photograph is in color and had a little bit clearer anterior surface of the forehead while the #45 was a little bit blurrier. The color photographs, first of all, were extremely clear. My first impression after viewing the color photographs was just that- in how clear and how much detail is visualized in the color films. That which needs to be seen is pretty fairly sharply focused and you can really see the individual hairs and things such as that in the photographs. In these color photographs, of the close-ups, it was quite clear and evident that the photograph was taken from the front. I could see the President’s cheekbone configuration, as well as part of the upper back, trapezius musculature. Between the lower jar, near the mid jaw or angle of the jaw, there was a large piece of adipose tissue that was beneath the cheek and jaw structuring. This would’ve been from the neck area after it had been dissected. There is the large flap of bone that we see on the other films and then there is another secondary piece of bone which would be just lower to the right of it as relative to the President. This would be lower and to the left as seen on the photograph. The scalp is pulled down across the forehead and in our public views, it is cut off before we see the bifurcation of the laceration. The laceration extends further to the President’s right and beneath the large flap fragment seen on the public films. There is some, what appears to be, temporalis musculature that lies superior and medial to the large flap fragment. Looking at it from this orientation, there is a little bit of the President’s ear is noted, and what appears to be a fuzzy area that looked to be consistent with possible sideburn hair. The top right portion of the photograph does also give some additional detail. You can see the doctor’s hand in the upper right corner. Just lateral to that and towards the right edge of the photograph you can see the drop cloth with some blood smeared onto it that was laying on the table period. Just inferior to that drop cloth is kind of a gray or bluish-gray area that is probably, or likely just the surface of the table. On Kennedy’s left lateral skull, on the area that is typically seen on the public view as being where the neck would be, or some such thing like that, is an area of very reflected dark, congealed blood material.
Previous Episodes of On the Trail of Delusion:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Episode 18
An interview with Phil Tinline about his book, Ghosts of Iron Mountain.
Episode 19
Episode 20
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