Gerald Hill and the murder of Officer Tippit - Part 2

Let’s now look into the suspicious actions and demonstrable lies of Gerald Hill following the President’s assassination and Officer Tippit’s murder.

There are numerous reasons to be suspicious of Gerald Hill’s movements following the assassination. Problems exist with Hill’s “Co-discovery” of the spent shell casings on the 6^th floor of the TSBD, how Hill went from the TSBD to the Tippit murder scene, how Hill went to the Texas Theatre following the Police dispatch of a suspect seen entering the Theatre. There are also problems with Hill’s account of travelling with a witness who could identify the Tippit murderer, his account of going to the Abundant Life Temple located on the corner of tenth and Crawford streets etc.

On the day of the assassination, Hill was on assignment with the Personnel bureau of the DPD, under the command of Captain W.R Westbrook. After learning about the shooting in Dealey Plaza, Hill travelled to the TSBD with DPD Officer Jim Valentine, and news reporter Jim Ewell. According to the DPD Channel 1 radio transcripts, Hill informed the dispatcher at 12:47 pm that he was en route to the TSBD.

There is absolutely no doubt that Hill was at the TSBD, as he was photographed hanging out of one of the 6^th floor windows of the TSBD. Ewell confirmed in his interview with Larry Sneed (author of the book, No more silence) that he was driven to the TSBD with Hill, by a uniformed Officer (see here). The Police car in which Hill was driven to the TSBD was #207 – curiously the same car which Earlene Roberts initially identified as being outside of Oswald’s rooming house as he was inside (further discussion of this issue to follow below).

There are a number of problems with Hill’s testimony regarding his actions inside the TSBD. For example, Hill claimed he was present on the 6^th floor when Dallas deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney discovered the spent cartridges. According to the Warren report, Mooney discovered the cartridges at approximately 1:12 pm. Hill then claimed that he asked Mooney to guard the shells, and then allegedly yelled down to the street for the crime lab to come up to the 6^th floor.

From Hill’s testimony:

“At this point, I asked the deputy sheriff to guard the scene, not to let anybody touch anything, and I went over still further west to another window about the middle of the building on the south side and yelled down to the street for them to send us the crime lab. Not knowing or not getting any indication from the street that they heard me, I asked the deputies again to guard the scene and I would go down and make sure that the crime lab was en route.”

The problem with Hill’s account of being present with Mooney when the spent cartridges were found is that Mooney makes no mention of Hill being present during his testimony, or asking him to guard the scene, and yelling down to the street for the crime lab to be sent up! In fact, Mooney makes it clear in his report to Sheriff Bill Decker, that it was actually he who yelled down to the street (see here).

As a matter of fact, Deputy Sheriff Harry Weatherford explained in his report to Sheriff Bill Decker, that he had advised Mooney to preserve the scene – and made no mention of Hill asking them to guard the scene! (See here). Furthermore, during his interview with Larry Sneed, Jim Ewell claimed that Hill had shouted the news about the killer eating fried chicken – and made absolutely no mention of Hill shouting out that the spent shell casings had been discovered!

Hill also claimed that he directed Lt Carl Day of the DPD crime lab (who according to his testimony arrived at the TSBD at about 1:12 pm) to the 6^th floor following the discovery of the spent cartridges. However, according to Day’s testimony, he was directed to the 6^th floor by DPD inspector Sawyer. See below.

From Hill’s testimony:

“About the time I got to the street, Lieutenant Day from the crime lab was arriving and walking up toward the front door. I told him that the area we had found where the shots were fired from was on the sixth floor on the southeast corner, and that they were guarding the scene so nobody would touch anything until he got there. And he said, "All right."

From Day’s testimony:

Mr. Belin

What did you do when you got there [the TSBD]?

Mr. Day

I was directed to the sixth floor by the police inspector who was at the front door when I arrived.

Mr. Belin

Do you know who that was?

Mr. Day

Inspector Sawyer.

The other important point to make is that Hill also claimed he informed Captain Will Fritz that the spent shell casings were discovered on the 6^th floor of the TSBD. See below.

“Not knowing or not getting any indication from the street that they heard me, I asked the deputies again to guard the scene and I would go down and make sure that the crime lab was en route. When I got toward the back, at this time I heard the freight elevator moving, and I went back to the back of the building to either catch the freight elevator or the stairs, and Captain Fritz and his men were coming up on the elevator. I told him what we found and pointed out the general area, pointed out the deputies to them, and told him also that I was going to make sure the crime lab was en route.”

The men Hill is referring to are detectives Elmer Boyd, and Richard Sims (Boyd’s partner), who were with Fritz when they entered the TSBD. Despite Hill’s claim that he told Fritz what was discovered on the 6^th floor, Fritz, Boyd, and Sims failed to corroborate Hill. In fact, both Boyd and Sims made it clear in their testimonies before the Warren Commission that they were on the 7^th floor of the TSBD, when they were informed the spent cartridges were found on the 6^th floor! Fritz also failed to mention during his testimony that he was accosted by Hill.

From Fritz’s testimony:

Mr. Ball

Then what did you do?

Mr. Fritz

We began searching the floors, looking for anyone with a gun or looked suspicious, and we searched through hurriedly through most all the floors.

Mr. McCloy

Which floor did you start with?

Mr. Fritz

We started at the bottom; yes, sir. And, of course, and I think we went up probably to the top. Different people would call me when they would find something that looked like something I should know about and I ran back and forth from floor to floor as we were searching, and it wasn't very long until someone called me and told me they wanted me to come to the front window, the corner window, they had found some empty cartridges.

From Sims’s testimony:

Mr. Ball

Now, you got, you said, up to the third floor?

Mr. Sims

Yes, sir.

Mr. Ball

And where did you go then?

Mr. Sims

Well, let's see, we got off--we stopped at the second floor and went to the third floor and some officer there had a key to a room and we made a hurried search of it and there was a bunch of officers on that floor and we went on to the fourth floor, and I don't know if we got off at the fourth or not, but anyway, we got off at the seventh floor each floor as we passed would have officers on it, and we hadn't been on the seventh floor very long--for just a while until someone hollered that they had found the hulls on the sixth floor, so we went back to the sixth floor.

Mr. Ball

Someone on the seventh floor told you they had found the hulls?

Mr. Sims

No, sir; someone hollered from the sixth floor that the hulls had been found.

Mr. Ball

And you could hear them?

Mr. Sims

Yes, sir; you could hear them.

Mr. Ball

Did you go down the stairway?

Mr. Sims

No, sir; we went back down the elevator, as well as I remember.

From Boyd’s testimony:

Mr. Ball

Now, when you arrived down here at the building, what did you do?

Mr. Boyd

Well, we went outside the building and we made two or three stops going up, you know, at different floors, and when we got up to the top floor--I believe it was the top one I think it's the seventh floor, and someone called us and said they had found some hulls, rifle hulls, down on the sixth floor, I believe it was the sixth floor.

Mr. Ball

And you were with whom at that time?

Mr. Boyd

I was with Captain Fritz and Detective Sims.

Mr. Ball

Did you go down to the sixth floor?

Mr. Boyd

We stopped at the sixth floor--you say, did we go down to the sixth floor?

Mr. Ball

When you heard that they found some hulls, just tell us what you did.

Mr. Boyd

We went down to the sixth floor and found the hulls over on the southeast corner of the building and they had some books, I suppose it was books--boxes of books stacked up back over there that way.

Now obviously there is something wrong with what Hill claimed. Why didn’t any of the men he allegedly spoke to corroborate his story? Well, probably because he was lying. As far as Hill travelling to the Tippit murder scene is concerned, he claimed he went there with Sgt Calvin “Bud” Owens, reporter Jim Ewell, and assistant District Attorney Bill Alexander. See below.

“Captain Sawyer said, "Well, as much help as we have here, why don't you go with Sergeant Owens to Oak Cliff on that detail." And Bill Alexander said, "Well, if it is all right, I will go with you." And the reporter, Jim Ewell, came up, and I said an officer had been shot in Oak Cliff, and he wanted to go with us also. In the process of getting the location straight, and I think it was at this point I was probably using 19 call number, because I was riding with him, we got the information correctly that the shooting had actually been on East 10th, and we were en route there. We crossed the Commerce Street viaduct and turned, made a right turn to go under the viaduct on North Beckley to go up to 10th Street. As we passed, just before we got to Colorado on Beckley, an ambulance with a police car behind it passed us en route to Methodist Hospital. We went on to the scene of the shooting where we found a squad car parked against the right or the south curb on 10th Street, with a pool of blood on the left-hand side of it near the side of the car. Tippit had already been removed.”

The problem with Hill’s story is that Owens and Ewell never mentioned Hill riding with them to Oak Cliff (despite Ewell claiming he had gone to Dealey Plaza with Hill and Jim Valentine). As a matter of fact, both Owens and Ewell claimed Captain Westbrook was in the car with them when they went to Oak Cliff. Westbrook claimed during his Warren Commission testimony that he was taken to the Tippit murder scene by a uniformed patrolman (Owens was in uniform, but was a sergeant) along with his subordinate, Sgt R.D Stringer – but didn’t mention Hill being in the car with them, despite the fact that Hill was also Westbrook’s subordinate. It should also be noted that Hill failed to mention that Westbrook was in the car with them – despite the fact Westbrook was his commander.

From Owens’ testimony:

“I told Inspector Sawyer that I was assigned to Oak Cliff and an officer was involved in the shooting, and I was taking off, so I proceeded--I got in my car, and Captain Westbrook and Bill Alexander, an assistant district attorney, also was in the car with me and we started out to--I think the call came out at 400 East 10th or 400 East Jefferson.”

From Westbrook’s testimony:

”After we reached the building, or after I reached the building, I contacted my sergeant Sgt. R. D. Stringer, and he was standing in front and so then I went into the building to help start the search and I was on the first floor and I had walked down an aisle and opened a door onto an outside loading dock, and when I came out on this dock, one of the men hollered and said there had been an officer killed in Oak Cliff. Well, then, of course, I ran to my radio because I am the personnel officer and that then became, of course, my greatest interest right at that time, and so, Sergeant Stringer and I and some patrolman---I don't recall his name---then drove to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit had been shot and killed.”

It should also be noted that Ewell corroborated Westbrook’s claim that Stringer was in Owens’ patrol car with them during his interview with Larry Sneed. Lone gunman zealots will undoubtedly argue that Hill wasn’t lying since Owens failed to note that Ewell was in the car with them, with Ewell failing to mention the presence of either Owens or Bill Alexander (I have been unable to locate any report/interview by either Alexander or Stringer, regarding with whom they went to the Tippit murder scene). However, the point remains that there is absolutely no corroboration for Hill’s claim that he travelled to the Tippit murder scene in Owens’ patrol car.

Based on the above, the logical conclusion is that Hill was lying. Still, the question remains as to how Hill was able to correctly identify Owens, Ewell, and Alexander as being in the patrol car. Hill could simply have learned through either one of them. The one final point I would like to make regarding Hill’s lack of credibility concerning his travelling to Oak Cliff, is his claim that they had passed the ambulance carrying Tippit’s body en route to 10^th and Patton. However, Owens, Westbrook, and Ewell never mentioned passing an ambulance en route to the Tippit murder scene.

Let’s also bear in mind that Hill indicated during his testimony that Owens’ patrol car (which allegedly transported him to the murder scene) was the first to arrive there. He also claimed that DPD Officers Joe M. Poe and Leonard E. Jez arrived shortly following their arrival.

From Hill’s testimony:

“We went on to the scene of the shooting where we found a squad car parked against the right or the south curb on 10th Street, with a pool of blood on the left-hand side of it near the side of the car. Tippit had already been removed. The first man that came up to me, he said, "The man that shot him was a white male about 5'10", weighing 160 to 170 pounds, had on a Jacket and a pair of dark trousers, and brown bushy hair." At this point the first squad rolled up, and that would have been squad 105, which had been dispatched from downtown. An officer named Joe Poe, and I believe his partner was a boy named Jez. I told him to stay at the scene and guard the car and talk to as many witnesses as they could find to the incident, and that we were going to start checking the area.”

This is yet another demonstrable lie by Hill. According to the DPD channel 1 radio transcript, the first broadcast of the description of Tippit’s shooter came from patrolman R.W Walker at 1:22 pm. Following this, Officers Poe and Jez report that “we’re at the location now”. Now if the transcript is to be trusted, R.W Walker arrived prior to Poe’s car - and prior to Owens’ car. Therefore, Hill’s claim that: “At this point the first squad rolled up, and that would have been squad 105, which had been dispatched from downtown” was a lie. Furthermore, there is no corroboration from the other occupants of Owens’ car (or from Poe and Jez) that they were the first to arrive.

Hill’s actions following his arrival at the Tippit murder scene are equally riddled with problems. Hill stated during his testimony that upon arriving at the scene, he immediately spoke to a man (whose name he failed to recall) that gave him the description of the shooter. Following this, Hill then allegedly commandeered patrol car 105 (driven by Officers Poe, and Jez). Hill claimed that he was using car 105 to search the nearby vacant houses for the shooter. See below.

Mr. Hill

I left Owens' car and had 105 car at this time.

Mr. Belin

Where did you go?

Mr. Hill

At this time, about the time this broadcast came out, I went around and met Owens. I whipped around the block. I went down to the first intersection east of the block where all this incident occurred, and made a right turn, and travelled one block, and came back up on Jefferson.

Mr. Belin

All right.

Mr. Hill

And met Owens in front of two large vacant houses on the north side of Jefferson that are used for the storage of second-hand furniture. By then Owens had information also that some citizen had seen the man running towards these houses. At this time Sergeant Owens was there; I was there; Bill Alexander was there; it was probably about this time that C. T. Walker, an accident investigator got there; and with Sergeant Owens and Walker and a couple more officers standing outside, Bill Alexander and I entered the front door of the house that would have been to the west--it was the farthest to the west of the two--shook out the lower floor, made sure nobody was there, and made sure that all the entrances from either inside or outside of the building to the second floor were securely locked. Then we went back over to the house next door, which would have been the first one east of this one, and made sure it was securely locked, both upstairs and downstairs. There was no particular sign of entry on this building at all. At this point we came back out to the street, and I asked had Owens received any information from the hospital on Tippit. And he said they had just told him on channel 2 that he was dead. I got back in 105's car, went back around to the original scene, gave him his car keys back, and left his ear there, and at this point he came up to me with a Winston cigarette package.

The problem with Hill’s account is that there is no corroboration from Poe, Jez, Owens, Walker, or Bill Alexander that he had a). Commandeered Poe’s patrol car, b). was involved in searching the vacant houses for the suspect. In fact, Walker made no mention of searching the vacant houses for the suspect during his testimony – and there is no acknowledgement by Hill over the DPD radio that he was en route to the vacant houses to search them. News reporter, Jim Ewell, mentioned in his interview with Larry Sneed that he had seen Bill Alexander searching one of the two story houses, but didn’t mention seeing Hill with Alexander.

The following is excerpted from Ewell’s interview:

“As I stepped out of this convenience store, next door to it was a two story boarding house, and there I saw Bill Alexander with an automatic pistol stalking across the balcony very carefully. Alexander always impressed me because, being an assistant district attorney, he was one of those guys from the prosecutor’s office that you saw with the cops. He was a squad car prosecutor. You very seldom saw the district attorney outside of his office.” 

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean Hill was lying when he claimed to be searching the vacant houses using Poe’s car. However, taking into account his lies concerning his “co –discovery” of the spent shell casings on the 6^th floor of the TSBD, his lie regarding how he got to the Tippit murder scene, and his lie that Owens’ patrol car was the first to arrive at the scene, what reason is there to believe he was being truthful in this instance? As far as I am concerned, there is none.

At 1:26 pm, Hill informed the Police dispatcher on channel 1 of the following:

“I'm at Twelfth and Beckley now. Have a man in the car with me that can identify the suspect if anybody gets him.”

Hill claims that he has a “witness” to the murder of Officer Tippit with him inside the car. This witness is alleged to be Harold Russell. Russell was employed by Johnny Reynolds used car lot, and was standing with B.M Patterson and L.J Lewis when he heard the shooting.

(Please note: Although I had previously stated that there was absolutely no corroboration for Hill’s claim that he had a man in the car with him who could identify the suspect, I have recently discovered that I was mistaken (see here, page 4). There is in fact an FBI interview with Harold Russel, where he claimed he was put into a Police car by Officers and showed them the area where he last saw the man with the gun. This would seem to explain Hill’s radio transmission.

Still, the question remains as to why Hill made no mention of looking for the suspect with a witness during his Warren Commission testimony. It is therefore still possible that the man with Hill was the killer, and that Hill had obtained the gun from him and then tried to plant it on Oswald in the Theatre. Otherwise, Hill could have obtained the gun from the killer at the Abundant Life Temple.)

Hill also informed the Warren Commission, that after returning to the Tippit murder scene, he walked to the Abundant Life Temple located on the corner of 10^th and Crawford Streets. The Temple is where many researchers suspect the real Tippit killer was hiding from the Police - although I have not been convinced that this was the case.

From Hill’s testimony:

“The next place I went was, I walked up the street about half a block to a church. That would have been on the northeast corner of 10th Street in the 400 block, further west of the shooting, and was preparing to go in when there were two women who came out and said they were employees inside and had been there all the time. I asked them had they seen anybody enter the church, because we were still looking for possible places for the suspect to hide. And they said nobody passed them, nobody entered the church, but they invited us to check the rest of the doors and windows and go inside if we wanted to. An accident investigator named Bob Apple was at the location at that time, and we were standing there together near his car when the call came out that the suspect had been seen entering the Texas Theatre.”

Hill stated that he spoke to two women who came out of the Temple/Church, and told him that they didn’t see anybody suspicious. Not surprisingly, the two “women” to whom Hill is referring, were never identified. Hill also claims that the “women” invited them to enter the Temple/Church to search it – which they apparently never did. Now, are we honestly to believe that with one of his fellow Police Officers murdered in the vicinity of the temple, Hill would simply take the word of these women that nobody had entered it? Wouldn’t Hill have thought to himself that if the killer was inside the temple, he would have threatened to kill the two “women” if they informed the Police he was inside? Wouldn’t Hill have ordered them to step aside, and asked for back-up over the DPD radio to search the temple for the killer? Of course he would have. The fact that he didn’t, makes his story all the more unbelievable.

It should also be noted that at 1:33 pm, Officer M. Nick McDonald, requested the dispatcher to send a police squad to search the basement of the Abundant Life Temple. This was followed a minute later by Officer Charles Walker’s dispatch that he had seen the suspect enter the Jefferson branch Library, located on Jefferson and Marsalis streets – upon which the DPD had surrounded the Library and ordered the occupants outside.

At 1:34 pm, Gerald Hill reports to the dispatcher that “the shells at that the scene indicate the suspect is armed with an automatic rather than a pistol.” Evidently, it was at this point in time at which Hill had first been to the murder scene, and examined the spent shell casings which Officer Poe had in his possession. At 1:40 pm, Hill informs the dispatcher on Channel 2 of the following:

“A witness reports that he last was seen in the Abundant Life Temple about the 400 block. We are fixing to go in and shake it down.”

Note that by “he”, Hill is almost certainly referring to the suspect. However, the “witness” Hill mentions was never identified. In fact, what makes the above dispatch by Hill truly bizarre is that McDonald had already requested back-up to search the Temple six minutes earlier – but made no mention of a witness having seen the suspect. Incidentally, Hill made no mention of the “witness” during his testimony – and apparently didn’t find it important to inform the Police dispatcher that he had spoken to the two “women” as he claimed during his testimony! So what the heck is going on here?

(Please note: Hill claimed during his testimony that it was probably Sgt R.D Stringer who made the dispatch at 1:40 pm. However, I have been unable to find any evidence that it was Stringer as Hill claimed – and given Hills lack of credibility, I for one don’t believe his story).

Hill also explained that he was at the Temple with accident investigator, Bob Apple. The problem is that there is no record of Apple being at the Temple as Hill claimed. Hill then informed the Warren Commission he went to the Texas Theatre in Bob Apple’s car, upon hearing on the DPD radio that a suspect had just entered the Theatre. See below.

Mr. Belin

What did you do then?

Mr. Hill

We got in Apple's car and went to Jefferson, made a right on Jefferson, headed west from our location, and pulled up as close to the front of the theatre as we could. There were already two or three officers at the location. I asked if it was covered off at the back……  

Unfortunately for Hill, Bob Apple did not have a car. At 1:12 pm, Apple informed the dispatcher on Channel 2 of the following.

“I am down here with this 3-wheeler at the dead end. He has a loud colored jacket on. He is pretty drunk. Do you want me to take him up there or what do you want me to do with him?”

As we can see, Apple indicated that he had a 3 wheeled motorcycle (although his dispatch on this matter was somewhat vague). In fact, there are no dispatches from Apple acknowledging that he was at the Abundant Life Temple - let alone at the Tippit murder scene!  Hence, the most logical conclusion is that Hill lied when he claimed he went to the Texas Theatre with Apple.

The final point I would like to make regarding the Abundant Life Temple, is that Officer Charles Walker also informed the Warren Commission that he had talked to a man at the parking lot of the temple, following the false alarm at the Jefferson branch Library. However, he made no mention of either Hill or Apple being present at the Temple! So if Hill and Apple were really there (as Hill claimed), then Walker surely would have seen them.

From Walker’s testimony:

“I got back in my car and started cruising the area again. I went up and down the alleys and streets. And there was one incident that really didn't have anything to do with it. I guess I was cruising up the alley with the newspaperman in the car, and I saw a man in long white sleeves, white shirt, walking across the parking lot there of the church, and I couldn't see below his legs, and there was a picket fence there, and when he got about 30 feet from me, I stopped the car, and he was walking toward me, and I had my gun in my lap at the time, and I said, "What is your name?" And he just looked at me. And at that time I didn't know whether he had a rifle or what he had, and he just looked at me, and he bent over, and I stuck my gun in the window and he raised up and had a small dog and he said, "What did you say?" And of course that newspaperman said, "My God, I thought he was going to shoot us." I said, "I thought he was reaching down for a rifle." Of course, he reached down and picked up a little dog. Then we got around to Beckley and 10th Street, still cruising the area, when I heard the call come over the radio that the suspect was supposed to be at the theatre on Jefferson.”

Let’s now examine Hill’s actions upon his arrival at the Texas Theatre. The following is an excerpt from Hill’s testimony where he describes how he learned that Oswald had been accosted.

“So we went back inside and we didn't find him in the balcony. We started downstairs and these would have been the west stairs on the west side of the balcony. About the time I got to the lower floor, I heard a shout similar to a "I've got him," which came from the lower floor. And I ran through the west door from the lobby into the downstairs part of the theatre proper.”

Hill claims he was downstairs when he heard somebody shout words to the effect “I’ve got him”. This of course was Officer M. Nick McDonald, who was the first Officer to approach Oswald. However, according to the arrest report made by Sgt H.H Stringer, Hill was not downstairs inside the Theatre when someone yelled out that they had Oswald - but outside on the fire escape. See here.

Although this is perhaps just a minor point, it nevertheless adds to the growing list of lies by Hill. We know of course that Hill had allegedly taken the gun from Carroll, and then kept it in his possession until turning it over to Lt T.L Baker of the homicide and robbery bureau. The following is Hill’s explanation to the Warren Commission concerning how and when he turned the revolver over to Baker.

Mr. Belin

Who put that name in there?

Mr. Hill

I did.

Mr. Belin

When did you do that?

Mr. Hill

This was done at approximately 4 p.m., the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963, in the personnel office of the police department.

Mr. Belin

Did you keep that gun in your possession until you scratched your name on it?

Mr. Hill

Yes, sir; I did.

Further on during his testimony:

Mr. Belin

What is the fact as to whether or not from the time this gun was handed to you until the time you removed these six bullets, this gun was in your possession?

Mr. Hill

The gun remained in my possession until it, from the time it was given to me until the gun was marked and all the shells were marked. They remained in my personal possession. After they were marked, they were released by me to Detective T. L. Baker of the homicide bureau. He came to the personnel office and requested that they be given to him, and I marked them and turned them over to him at this point.

Hill explained that he had kept possession of the revolver on the day of the assassination until he had marked it – and was then handed by him to Baker after 4 pm. Unfortunately, there is no mention by Baker in either his report to DPD Chief Jesse curry, or during his brief Warren Commission deposition of receiving the revolver from Hill. I’m not accusing Hill of being dishonest in this regard. Although, it is certainly odd that Baker would omit this from his report. I also believe it’s quite likely that Hill himself placed the nick on one of the revolver cartridges, after Officer Hutson asked him if he had heard the snap of the hammer!

To summarise, what we have with Gerald Hill is a Police Officer who:

1.      Demonstrably lied about informing Captain Will Fritz of the location of the sniper’s nest

2.      Demonstrably lied about asking Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney to guard the crime scene, and calling out down to the street for the crime lab to be sent up.

3.      Demonstrably lied about informing Lt. Carl Day of the location of the sniper’s nest

4.      Demonstrably lied about how he travelled to the Tippit murder scene

5.      Was almost certainly lying when he claimed to commandeer Officer Poe’s car, and then use Poe’s car to search the vacant two storey houses for the suspect.

6.      Was almost certainly lying about looking for the suspect with a witness.

7.      Was almost certainly lying about speaking to two women at the Abundant Life Temple.

8.      Was almost certainly lying about travelling to the Texas Theatre with Bob Apple.

9.      Was contradicted by Sgt H.H Stringer as to where he was when Officer Nick McDonald shouted out words to the effect “I’ve got him”.

10.  Was accused by Officer Ray Hawkins of taking the revolver from Oswald as he was being arrested inside the Theatre.

11.  Purportedly had his arm grabbed, and almost handcuffed, during the scuffle with Oswald inside the Theatre.

12.  Was contradicted by detective Bob Carroll (and himself) as to when he was allegedly handed the revolver by Carroll.

13.  Was responsible for putting words into Oswald’s mouth (as I explained in this post).

Now it’s obviously a serious question as to why a DPD Officer was lying about his actions on the day in which not only the President of the United States of America was assassinated, but on the same day one of his fellow police Officers was murdered. For lone gunman zealots to simply excuse this as being irrelevant, just goes to show how little interest they have in the truth.

As I previously mentioned, Oswald’s house keeper, Earlene Roberts, claimed that a DPD Patrol car was present outside of Oswald’s rooming house when he was inside. Bear in mind, that Roberts noted Oswald went into his rooming house at approximately 1:00 pm. According to Roberts, there were two uniformed Police Officers inside the car, and that they had honked the horn of the car twice. I also discussed this controversial issue in this post.

Now, what’s important is that the number of the Patrol car which Roberts initially identified was 207, the Patrol car driven by DPD Officer Jim Valentine – and the same patrol car which quite "coincidentally" escorted Gerald Hill to Dealey plaza! Roberts made this claim during her interview with FBI agents Will Griffin and James Kennedy, on November 29^th 1963.

Lone gunman kooks such as Dale Myers are fond of criticising Roberts because she later claimed the number of the car was actually 106, and then changed the number to 107. Lone gunman kooks also use the reports by Valentine, Captain O.A Jones, and Captain Westbrook, which state that the keys to the car were turned over to Sgt James Putnam in Dealey Plaza, as “proof” that no Officers were driving the car at the time Oswald was inside his rooming house. There is however, no photographic evidence that car 207 was in Dealey Plaza during the time Roberts claimed it was outside the rooming house.

To use the reports by the DPD as “proof” that Roberts was lying, is truly laughable to say the least. Do lone gunman zealots honestly believe that the DPD wouldn’t lie to conceal the fact that one of their patrol cars was outside the residence of the accused murderer of not only the President of the Unites States, but of one of their own Police Officers? Obviously the implication of the Police car’s presence is that their own Officers were somehow involved in a conspiracy with Oswald. So to think that they wouldn’t try to conceal this matter not only defies logic, but basic common sense.

During her Warren Commission testimony, Roberts steadfastly denied having witnessed Patrol car 207 outside of Oswald’s rooming house (see below). However, considering the harassment she would have received from the DPD concerning her allegations (as she also alluded to in her testimony); it is perfectly understandable that she would deny having seen Patrol car 207. I should note that when the Warren Commission questioned Sgt Putnam, he was never asked whether he was given the keys to patrol car 207 by Officer Jim Valentine (incidentally, Valentine wasn’t called to testify before the Warren Commission). 

Mr. Ball

On the 29th of November, Special Agents Will Griffin and James Kennedy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed you and you told them that "after Oswald had entered his room about 1 p.m. on November 22, 1963, you looked out the front window and saw police car No. 207?

Mrs. Roberts

No. 107.

Mr. Ball

Is that the number?

Mrs. Roberts

Yes--I remembered it. I don't know where I got that 106---207. Anyway, I knew it wasn't 170.

Mr. Ball

And you say that there were two uniformed policemen in the car?

Mrs. Roberts

Yes, and it was in a black car. It wasn't an accident squad car at all.

Mr. Ball

Were there two uniformed policemen in the car?

Mrs. Roberts

Oh, yes.

Mr. Ball

And one of the officers sounded the horn?

Mrs. Roberts

Just kind of a "tit-tit"--twice.

Mr. Ball

And then drove on to Beckley toward Zangs Boulevard, is that right?

Mrs. Roberts

Yes. I thought there was a number, but I couldn't remember it but I did know the number of their car--I could tell that. I want you to understand that I have been put through the third degree and it's hard to remember.

The significance of Roberts sighting of Patrol Car 207 at approximately 1:00 pm is that the distinct possibility exists that Gerald Hill was driving it! Hill’s lies concerning his presence on the 6^th floor with Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney, when Mooney discovered the spent shell casings at approximately 1:12 pm (according to the Warren report), and his lie concerning his travelling to the Tippit murder scene in Sgt Owens’ Patrol car, indicate that he certainly could have left the TSBD in Patrol car 207 prior to 1:00 pm. According to the DPD radio transcripts, Owen’s informed the dispatcher at 1:19 pm that he was en route to the Tippit murder scene.

Now Roberts did testify that the two Police Officers she observed were wearing uniforms – which Hill wasn’t. However, she could have simply been mistaken on this point. The other Police Officer with Hill could very well have been Harry Olsen – a man whose whereabouts on the day of the assassination are also highly suspect.

Although it’s difficult to make a judgement on exactly what role Hill had in the conspiracy to murder President Kennedy, and J.D Tippit, I believe he obtained the revolver from the real Tippit killer, and the attempted to plant it on Oswald in the Theatre. Whilst many conspiracy advocates will disagree with me, I am of the opinion that the Ce143 revolver was indeed the gun used to kill Officer Tippit. I also believe Hill’s account of searching the vacant houses using Officer Poe’s car, his account of going to the Abundant Life Temple, and his account of going to the Texas Theatre with Officer Bob Apple, were concocted to cover his true actions following the President’s assassination.

In part 1 of this article, I said that I would return to the issue of detective Bob Carroll and the revolver. I believe it’s quite likely the revolver Carroll took (and was photographed holding outside the Theatre) was the one which belonged to Officer Nick McDonald. I believe as McDonald approached Oswald with his gun drawn, Oswald punched McDonald, causing McDonald to drop the gun on the floor. The following is from Dallas deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers’ report concerning Oswald’s arrest at the Theatre:

“When I reached the area of commotion, it was hard to tell "Who had Who" as there were so many officers into a melee on the floor between the seats, but I saw Officer Carroll of the Dallas Police Department standing on the other side of the melee of people and I could see a gun on the floor with 2 or 3 hands on it and I reached into this melee and pulled up on the people and I believe it was Officer Carroll who reached down and got this gun. I am not positive it was Officer Carroll, but I believe it was, however, there was such a swarm of officers at this time, it was hard to determine.”

As we can see, Walthers claimed that the gun was on the floor when Bob Carroll grabbed it! This is completely inconsistent with McDonald’s, Carroll’s, and the other DPD Officers allegations concerning the revolver. Based on the above, I believe the DPD fabricated the entire Carroll grabbing “Oswald’s” revolver from Oswald/McDonald and handing it to Hill story, in order to incriminate him and to maintain the chain of possession of the revolver.

Of course, there are many questions that remain concerning Hill’s complicity. For example, what was his motive for being involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, and the murder of Officer Tippit? How Hill managed to return Patrol car 207 to Dealey plaza if he was using it (provided of course it was actually returned to Dealey plaza)? Finally, how he actually went to the Texas Theatre? All of these are important questions.

There are of course problems with the case against Hill. For example, Hill informed the Warren Commission that as he went outside of the TSBD to speak to inspector Sawyer, he observed a fire truck. According to the DPD radio transcripts, at 12:54 pm the dispatcher advised on Channel 2 that: “we are going to send a Fire Department Rescue Unit with a lot of rope to that location”. So if Hill actually did see the fire truck, it would have been after 12:54 pm.

While lone gunman zealots will argue that Hill wasn’t involved since he reported on the DPD radio that the shells at the scene were from an automatic, it makes sense that he would - in order to draw suspicion away from himself that he would be planting the revolver on Oswald inside the Theatre.

It is also interesting that Hill made the point of telling the Warren Commission that he knew Jack Ruby prior to the assassination. There are some who will argue that this proves Hill wasn’t involved, since he wouldn’t be stupid enough to inform the Warren Commission that he knew Ruby. On the contrary, I think that’s exactly what Hill would tell the Commission in order to make them (and assassination researchers) believe he wasn’t involved.

Lone gunman zealots will also likely argue that the idea Hill was involved in the murder of one of his fellow Officers is completely absurd. However, it is not absurd. There are many cases of Police Officers murdering their fellow Officers. There are also many psychopaths who have murdered their own children! Therefore, it is not absurd to think that Hill was involved in the murder of J.D Tippit.

However, despite what one believes about Gerald Hill’s complicity, the lies he told and his suspicious actions should not be dismissed by any serious researcher. There is also little doubt in my mind that the Warren Commission was well aware that Hill was on the 6^th floor of the TSBD - before the spent cartridges were discovered by Deputy Sheriff, Luke Mooney, and covered up that fact! I also believe the DPD were aware of the oddities concerning Hill’s action, but would obviously not insinuate that one of their own Police Officers was involved in any shape or form with the assassination of the President of the United States, and the murder of J.D Tippit.

On a final note, I would like to thank researchers Lee Farley, and Duke Lane. Without the knowledge and inspiration from their research into Gerald Hill, I would not have been able to write this lengthy article. As I said before, I don’t pretend that I have actually proven Hill’s complicity - only that he lied about his movements following the assassination of the President and the murder of Officer Tippit, and that he should be considered a prime suspect in the conspiracy to frame Oswald.

Addendum:

Just recently, I learned that a DPD detective named V.J Brian claimed during his Warren Commission testimony that Gerald Hill was present on the sixth floor of the TSBD when the spent shell casings were discovered. See below.

Mr. Rankin

Will you just describe that event when you saw those shells?

Mr. Brian

Well, a police sergeant, Jerry Hill, hollered, I was on the opposite side of the sixth floor, hollered that he had, this is where he shot from, and shells were laying there, and I walked from where I was at over to the other corner of the building and looked, and that is about the extent of my investigation there because they called the crime laboratory and everybody else to get down there and they got an officer to guard the place and not let nobody get around and we went on searching the building.

Brian claimed that it was Hill who hollered that the shells had been found. However, Hill never mentioned during his testimony that he had hollered. In fact, it was Dallas deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney who had hollered that the shells were discovered! The following is from Hill’s testimony.

Mr. Belin

All right, they moved over to the east side?

Mr. Hill

We hadn't been there [the 6^th floor] but a minute until someone yelled, "Here it is," or words to that effect. I moved over and found they had found an area where the boxes had been stacked in sort of a triangle shape with three sides over near the window. Two small boxes with Roller books on the side of the carton were stacked near the east side of the window.

As we can see, Hill claimed that someone (not him) yelled that the sniper’s nest had been discovered. Therefore, detective Brian’s recollections were inaccurate. When Chief Counsel J. Lee Rankin asked Brian what he observed when he went over to the sniper’s nest, Brian provided the following answers.

Mr. Rankin

What did you see, how many shells did you see?

Mr. Brian

I am going to guess.

Mr. Rankin

We don't want you to guess. If you can tell us your recollection, that is all.

Mr. Brian

Well, the first time I went over there, I believe I saw two, but I am not sure, but I went back again later and there were three shells there.

This is truly bizarre. First Brian says that he is “going to guess”, then claimed he couldn’t be sure if he sure had seen two spent shells casings or three! Is this the sort of witness we should consider to be credible? I don’t think so. In fact, consider the following from Hill’s testimony.

Mr. Belin

Then what did you do?

Mr. Hill

Left the uniformed officer there, and these two deputies and I went down to sixth. I started to the right side of the building.

Hill indicated that he was alone with two sheriff’s deputies when they allegedly went down to the sixth floor together – and made no mention of seeing detective Brian or any other detective on the floor with him at the same time. Based on the above, detective Brian’s claim of seeing Gerald Hill on the sixth floor should not be considered credible.

Furthermore, there is much evidence which contradicts Brian’s recollection of Hill, such as Hill’s lies of speaking to Captain Fritz and Lt Day, his lie of travelling to Oak Cliff in Sgt Calvin “Bud” Owens’ patrol car. Plus Earlene Roberts’s claim of seeing patrol car 207 (which took Hill to Dealey Plaza from city Hall) outside of Oswald’s rooming house at approximately 1:00 pm.

Addendum part 2:

Although I had stated that there was absolutely no corroboration that Hill travelled to Oak Cliff inside Sgt Owens’ patrol car, I recently discovered that William Alexander informed Larry Sneed, who authored the book No more silence, that Hill was with them when they travelled to Oak Cliff. Please refer to my review of Sneed’s book (here), for why Alexander’s claim of travelling to Oak Cliff with Hill should not be considered credible.