Witnesses

Sylvia Odio, who told the Warren Commission that she was visited in September 1963 by three men seeking help in fighting Castro, one of whom was Lee Oswald.
Sylvia Odio, who told the Warren Commission that she was visited in September 1963 by three men seeking help in fighting Castro, one of whom was Lee Oswald.

Dealey Plaza was full of people who witnessed the assassination of President Kennedy. There were also witnesses to the murders of Officer J.D. Tippit and to other important events in the assassination story. Here is a sampling of a few of the many important witnesses:

Abraham Zapruder - One of the most famous witnesses to the assassination was Zapruder's camera, which recorded the most famous "home movie" in American history.

Howard Brennan - Brennan was the Warren Commission's star witness to a rifleman matching Oswald in the 6th floor "sniper's nest" in the Book Depository building. But it is not at all clear that the description of Oswald sent over police radio shortly after the assassination came from Brennan, as the Warren Report states.

Arnold Rowland - A spectator in Dealey Plaza, Rowland told the Warren Commission that he saw two gunmen on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. His wife, Barbara, provided only partial corroboration for her husband's account, and being without her glasses did not see anyone.

Robert Jackson - Dallas Times-Herald photographer Bob Jackson saw a rifle being withdrawn from the "sniper's nest" window, but did not obtain a photograph of it. He also took a famous photo of Jack Ruby shooting Oswald.

Lee Bowers - Positioned in a 14-foot railroad tower at the back of a parking lot behind the grassy knoll fence, Bowers observed three cars enter the parking lot, one being driven by a man who appeared to be talking on a microphone. Bowers also saw two men in the vicinity of the grassy knoll fence and saw a "commotion" there at the time the shots rang out.

James Tague - James Tague was wounded by a chip of concrete that was thrown up by the strike of an apparent missed shot.

Warren Reynolds - Warren Reynolds was a witness to a man fleeing the scene of the Tippit shooting. He initially would not identify the man as Oswald, and was later shot in the head (he recovered). The man picked up for the attack on Reynolds, Darrell Wayne Garver, was given an alibi by Nancy Jane Mooney. Mooney was herself subsequently arrested for disturbing the peace and found hanged in her jail cell.

Sylvia Odio - A Cuban exile living in Dallas, Ms. Odio told the Warren Commission that she was visited by three men in late September 1963, one of them a "Leon Oswald." Upon seeing the news of President Kennedy's assassination and seeing news footage of Oswald, she recognized him and became hysterical.

Nancy Perrin Rich - A former bartender of Jack Ruby's and wife of a since-deceased gunrunner, Nancy Perrin Rich described for the Warren Commission a 1962 meeting involving Ruby. Her husband had been offered $10,000 to smuggle Cuban refugees from Cuba to Miami - Jack Ruby was the man carrying the cash for the deal, which Perrin turned down.

Seth Kantor - A journalist who knew Jack Ruby, Kantor told the Warren Commission that he spoke to Ruby in Parkland Hospital around 1:30 PM on the day of the assassination. The Commission concluded that Kantor was mistaken, despite corroboration for his testimony by witness Wilma Tice.

Perry Russo - The "star witness" in the trial of Clay Shaw, Russo testified to a meeting involving Shaw, David Ferrie, and a "Leon Oswald," where the assassination of President Kennedy was discussed. Russo's testimony is questioned on the basis of the story seemed to have been developed after initial inteviews with Garrison's office, after the use of drugs and hypnosis.

Willie Somersett - An informant for the Miami police, Somersett tape-recorded right-wing extremist Joseph Milteer discussing the assassination of Kennedy 13 days before it occurred. Milteer said it was "in the working" and that "they will pick up somebody within hours afterwards.....just to throw the public off."

Here are other names of witnesses to the events in Dallas - use the search engine to locate information about them:

Victoria Adams, James Altgens, Tom Alyea, Carolyn Arnold, Gordon Arnold, Domingo Benavides, Hugh Betzner, Mary Bledsoe, Albert Bogard, Wilma Bond, Charles Brehm, Johnny Brewer, Mary Brock, Ted Callaway, Richard Carr, Acquilla Clemons, Malcolm Couch, Amos Euins, Charles Givens, Charles Greener, Jean Hill, Ed Hoffman, Sam Holland, Emmett Hudson, James Jarman Jr., Jack Lawrence, Billy Lovelady, Helen Markham, Julia Mercer, Lillian Mooneyham, Mary Moorman, Maria Muchmore, Thomas Murphy, Gayle Newman, William Newman, Orville Nix, Harold Norman, Beverly Oliver, Julia Postal, Jesse Price, Malcolm Price, Linnie Mae Randle, Warren Richey, Earlene Roberts, Marvin Robinson, Eddie Rocco, Dial Ryder, Norman Similas, James Simmons, Garland Slack, Sarah Stanton, Sandra Styles, Malcolm Summers, Jack Tatum, Wilma Tice, Jim Towner, Carolyn Walther, Dave Weigman, Edith Whitworth, Bonnie Ray Williams, Phillip Willis, Eugene Wilson, Steven Wilson, Mary Woodward, James Worrell, Frank Wright, Mary Wright.

Witnesses or purported witnesses to other relevant events:

Gilberto Alvarado Ugarte, Mary Brengel, Raymond Broshears, Madeleine Brown, Vernon Bundy, Rose Cheramie, Comer Clark, Corrie Collins, Elena Garro de Paz, Richard Giesbrecht, Pedro Gutierrez Valencia, David Lewis, Edwin McGehee, John Manchester, Sandra Moffett, Morgan Reeves, Pamela Mumford, Annie Odio, Orest Pena, Barbara Reid, Charles Spiesel, Antonio Veciana, Patricia Winston.

RESOURCES:

Essays

Only the Facts? Eyewitness Testimony vs. the Lone Gunman Theory, by Fair Play.

Original Witness Statements, by Lisa Pease.

Rose Cheramie: How She Predicted the JFK Assassination, by Jim DiEguenio.

Eyewitness Account, by Carrie Gallagher.

Eyewitness Testimony, by John McAdams.

59 Witnesses: Delay on Elm Street, by Vince Palamara.

Convenient Deaths, by Ralph Schuster.

Deaths of Witnesses, by Spartacus Educational.

Lee Bowers' View: A Photo Essay, by Greg Jaynes.

Sylvia Odio vs. Liebeler and the LaFontaines, by James DiEugenio.

Understanding Sylvia Odio: What the La Fontaines Don't Tell You, by Steve N. Bochan.

Posner and Witness Testimony: A Few Examples, by Barb Junkkarinen.

Impeaching Clinton, by Dave Reitzes.

Ed Hoffman's Changing Story, by Ron Friedrich.

 

Documents

Warren Commission Testimony:

Victoria Elizabeth Adams

Albert Guy Bogard

Lee E. Bowers, Jr.

Howard Leslie Brennan

Amos Lee Euins

Charles Douglas Givens

S.M. Holland

Seth Kantor

Helen Markham

Sylvia Odio

Julia Postal

Warren Allen Reynolds

Nancy Perrin Rich

Arnold Louis Rowland

Wilma May Tice

Abraham Zapruder.

Dealey Plaza Conspiracy Witnesses - HSCA Report, Volume XII, p.1.


Other Links

Dealey Plaza Witness Database - Stewart Galanor's interactive database of Dealey Plaza witnesses, including their locations and the statements they gave about the number and direction of shots.

Related Starting Points

Book Previews

Whitewash, by Harold Weisberg
Chapter 9. The Witnesses and Their Treatment


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