THE MURDER OF J.D. TIPPIT by S.r. Dusty Rohde

On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by what was once described as “a flurry of bullets” while riding in his Presidential motorcade in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Within the hour, Dallas police patrolman, “J.D. Tippit ”would be gunned down in the streets of Oak Cliff (a Dallas suburb) in what could only be described as, in the style of a “professional execution”.
The Dallas PD and Warren Commission would later claim both deaths were related and that “Communist sympathizer” Lee Harvey Oswald killed both men. Lee Harvey Oswald, without legal representation or a single day in court, was quickly “Branded” (with full  intent) by the Warren Commission as the “Lone Assassin” and “Cop Killer”.
The evidence in the case of J.D. Tippit is in direct conflict with this assessment of Oswald. Truth be told, evidence indicates that Oswald’s alleged “guilt” is suspect, well beyond “reasonable doubt”, as defined in Courts of Law. In reviewing the case of Tippit’s murder, one quickly discovers a deliberate and methodical manipulation of evidence. Manipulation which appears to have been done (at least in part) by the Dallas Police Department. A manipulation designed to lay the blame for J.D. Tippit’s murder at Oswald’s feet, but is it truth?
J.D. Tippit died a married man with three children. On the morning of November 22nd, J.D. Tippit said to his eldest son “no matter what happens today, I want you to know that I love you”(1). That very same morning, Tippit returned a Spanish language book to his niece(2), (he had been self learning Spanish). Tippit had the habit of working extra jobs to make  money. While working these extra jobs, Tippit also had the habit of picking up a spare girlfriend or two. One of those rumoured girlfriends was reported to be Clara Jo Monk, whom he met while working part time at the Austin BBQ(3). Tippit was also reported to have dated one of the “Witherspoon” girls. One of those girls (by her own testimony) was “Johnny Maxie Thompson “Witherspoon” (married to Claude Witherspoon), “Johnny” had also worked at the Austin BBQ and testified she did indeed date Tippit(4). The other “Witherspoon” girl was Joyce Lee Witherspoon (aka, Joyce Lee McDonald or Joyce Lee Gordon). I can tell you, having spoken with Joyce, that she gets jumpy as a bullfrog on the subject of J.D. Tippit. When I asked Joyce if she had ever seen Tippit in the Carousel Club, she choked on her own words and stuttered worse than Porky Pig….it was a question that clearly rattled her. In fact, Joyce continued to stutter, start and stop with her answer saying, well they were all in there (meaning DPD officers) because “Jack” made them coffee and had danish for them. Then, stuttering a bit more, she just said “no” in a way that it sounded more to me like she was saying no to block memories from resurfacing, than answering my question. Jack Ruby himself had stated at one point that he knew Tippit(5), (then later denied it). About this time, Joyce changed the subject. She began telling me how she was working for Eva Grant (Ruby’s sister) at the Vegas Club, prior to working for Jack Ruby. She said this is where she met Jack, and that she decided to go to work for him because Eva was such a “brutal bitch” to work for. This got my attention immediately, as Eva herself testified that J.D. Tippit had been in the Vegas Club, and named others who could confirm or verify this information(6). This revelation also exposed a further possibility for Joyce (aka Joy Dale) to have been in contact with J.D. Tippit. I also asked Joyce if she was related to Claude Witherspoon, in an attempt to discern how familiar she may have been with Johnnie Maxie Witherspoon. Joyce hesitated and then stated she remembered Claude, and that was it. So why bring up this subject at all? During investigations by committees it was discovered that Joyce Lee McDonald had once lived in the area of J.D. Tippit’s murder(7). Joyce had lived at 328 E. 9th Street and also at 410 1/2 Tenth Street (East or West is currently unknown). If her former address was 410 1/2 E. Tenth Street, it would be precisely where J.D. Tippit’s police vehicle was parked when murdered. Tippit’s vehicle blocked the driveway which exited from the alleyway. There was a small apartment between 404 and 410 E. Tenth street from which the Tippit shooter may have emerged. Currently, it isn’t known who rented or owned this apartment at the time of the shooting, but could it be significant? Two witnesses saw Tippit in this neighborhood so often before the murder (far from his assigned patrol zone), they thought he lived there(8, 9). The Dallas PD swept this under the rug by saying Tippit “was one of those officers who liked to drive a lot”(10). Who was J.D. Tippit spending so much time and interest with in this neighborhood (and outside his normal patrol  zone)? Joy Dale (J.D.) is one possibility. Joy Dale was pregnant with her second child on the day of Tippit’s murder. Whatever Tippit’s interest in the area, it had been going on some time prior to President Kennedy’s visit.
Government agencies have tried every which way to represent Lee Harvey Oswald as “running” away from shooting of the President, with a weapon, at the Tippit murder scene and on foot. Why? Because they needed to demonstrate “Motive, Means and Opportunity” to charge Oswald as Tippit’s killer AND link him to the assassination. The Warren Commission declared that Oswald shot J.D. Tippit at 1:15 or 1:16pm.

Well let me tell all of you something. If Lee Harvey Oswald shot J.D. Tippit at either 1:15 or 1:16pm, he shot a dead man! Oswald shot a dead man, because J.D. Tippit’s “legal and lawful” time of death, on his Death Certificate, recognized by any court in this country….is 1:15pm(11)! Yes, you read right, 1:15pm.

The insert shown above is taken from the actual Certificate of Death, Tippit’s name was misspelled, but the document clearly shows the time and date of death. There is no way Lee Harvey Oswald shot a “living” J.D. Tippit at either 1:15 or 1:16pm. That statement by the Warren Commission was an outright lie. A lie expressed for the sole purpose of deceiving the American public. The Warren Commission had the Tippit documents in their hands, they knew the “legal” time of death, they knew Oswald couldn’t have shot Tippit at 1:15 or 1:16pm, and yet they still chose to tell the lie. J.D. Tippit could not have been shot at 1:16, his legal and lawful time of death is as recorded, 1:15pm. Why does that matter? Before Tippit was pronounced “dead” at the hospital, he had to be removed from the ambulance, wheeled to the ER, transferred off of the ambulance gurney onto the hospital bed. Doctors had to do a quick scan, then attempt to clear an airway and possibly administer CPR in the attempt to save Tippit’s life(12), all “before” declaring the man officially dead.

Parking the ambulance, unloading the gurney with Tippit’s body, wheeling it to the ER and Doctor’s and Nurses attempting to save Tippit’s life would have taken at the bare minimum, one minute……more likely two. Now, starting with Tippit’s “lawful” time of death….let’s do a little math. Subtract the “one minute” from 1:15, and you have a time of 1:14. Between 1:14 and 1:15, Tippit arrived at Methodist Hospital and staff attempted to save his life. It’s not rocket science folks….just simple math.
Now, according to Google Maps, it takes 5 minutes (in “NO” traffic) to travel from410 E. 10th Street to the Methodist Hospital if using Beckley. This is the shortest possible route. Would driving the ambulance “in traffic”, running with “lights and sirens” be faster? As a former Fire Fighter and ambulance driver, I would say not. It would likely take about the same amount of time or slightly longer. We would drive at faster speeds between intersections but also slow to a crawl when approaching the intersections to prevent any collisions with ongoing traffic. Two other possible routes are listed for travelling to the Methodist Hospital from 410 E. 10th Street, but both would take an even longer span of driving time. For the sake of argument and any doubters, I will here again use the shortest route and shortest amount of time noted; This is shown highlighted in red on the following chart. The chart showing a distance of travel being 1.4 miles is the shortest route. I don’t however know with certainty that the ambulance driver chose to drive the shortest route, they very well may have taken a longer route. The three possible routes are  shown on the chart below.

So, to reiterate, I’m going to use the shortest and fastest possible route, with the shortest amount of time wasted for the Tippit time line. So, subtracting the travel time of “5 minutes” from our previous results of “1:14pm”…..we arrive at a time of 1:09, 1:09pm being the time that the ambulance left the murder scene at 410 E. 10th Street. Now, from this point, we have to use a little common sense. By that, I mean that the ambulance wasn’t already at the murder scene when Tippit was killed, somebody had to call for it. The person who requested a call for the ambulance (by using his radio) was a taxi cab driver,  a man and murder witness by the name of “William W. Scoggins”. Before Mr. Scoggins made the call for the ambulance, he had to have a reason for the request in the first place. That reason, was seeing J.D. Tippit shot in front of his eyes, which obviously happened BEFORE 1:09pm. Each of the described actions takes time to unfold, this isn’t hard to understand. According to Scoggins testimony, he saw Tippit’s vehicle come to a stop and saw Tippit get out of the vehicle. He saw Tippit grabbing at his stomach (after being shot) and falling to the street. The shooter then ran around the opposite side of the car and shot Tippit in the head. Scoggins hid behind his cab and saw the shooter running past him, with his face turned away from him. He heard the man say either “poor dumb cop” or “poor damn cop”. Scoggins also apparently saw the shooter stop and unload his gun. As the shooter continued on, Scoggins radioed his dispatcher to request an ambulance be sent to the scene. The dispatcher in turn would have to make a telephone call to request the ambulance and provide pertinent information, like the location the ambulance was needed and the reason for the request. That person would have to notify the ambulance crew to send them on their way(13).

Remember now, during each of these steps, the clock is ticking. Once all of this was done, the ambulance crew would still have to drive to the scene, in traffic. They would still have to find Tippit, position the ambulance, unload the gurney, roll it over to Tippit, load Tippit onto the gurney, wheel the gurney to the ambulance, and place the gurney and Tippit inside the ambulance, all… before 1:09pm. I need to stop here and give a brief personal history. During my time as a Fire Fighter, I filled several roles over the years. I was sent to a specialized school for the specific training of driving Fire Department vehicles in extreme conditions. Upon completing this course, I was assigned to the position of “Driver Trainer” in the Fire Department in which I worked. I was assigned for a couple of years on our ambulance….and have loaded and unloaded patients to emergency rooms many times. As a Fire Fighter, I also filled the role of “ARO” (Alarm Room Operator) and ATC (Air Traffic Controller) on a regular basis. So I have a fair idea of what is involved in emergency situations and transportation. Now, for these events to have transpired, from the moment Scoggins saw Tippit shot, to the ambulance
crew loading Tippit, would have taken time. I’m going to be very generous and say that these events would have taken a minimum of three minutes from start to finish. If we subtract those three minutes from 1:09pm, we arrive at a time of 1:06pm, the real time that J.D. Tippit was shot. Coincidentally, the time of 1:06 for the shooting happens to match the stated time of the shooting in Helen Markham’s testimony. The only witness who was outside at the same time, every day she went to work(14)(15).

Mrs. Markham makes two separate inferences in her comments. The first being that the shooting was 6 or 7 minutes after 1pm. This coincides with our time line of 1:06pm. Then she also indicates that the shooting was “before” 1:15, which is affirmed by the official time of death of 1:15pm. So where does this lead us?
According to Warren Commission calculations and witness testimony, Lee Harvey Oswald arrived at his rooming house at 1:00pm(16). His landlady, Mrs. Earlene Roberts, stated that Oswald was at the rooming house for no more than “three or four minutes”(17), before walking out of the door. (see image, next page).

Here again, I’ll be generous….and use the shortest amount of time mentioned by Mrs. Roberts, as the time Oswald stayed in the rooming house or three minutes. This results in the time of Oswald’s leaving as 1:03pm. The distance to the Tippit murder scene was 9/10th’s of a mile. Tippit was shot at 1:06pm.  During my four years in High School, I was in Track and Field, as a cross country, long distance runner. I can tell you with certainty, that no one, in the history of man can run that distance in three minutes, including any of the current or past world record holders, much less walk it in three minutes. The Warren Commission of course claimed that it took Oswald much longer to walk the distance (see below).

According to the claim shown above, the Warren Commission just proved Lee Harvey Oswald was innocent! If LHO didn’t get to 10th and Patton until shortly after 1:15pm, he didn’t shoot Tippit, because Tippit is at this very moment at the Methodist Hospital being declared officially and “legally” dead! No matter how the WC attempted to manipulate the lie, it just doesn’t work. Oswald did not walk to the Tippit murder scene at 1:15pm, and he didn’t shoot J.D. Tippit at 1:15pm. He didn’t walk 9/10th’s of a mile in 3 minutes and he didn’t run 9/10th’s of a mile in 3 minutes. None of these things happened, this information is not hearsay, it is documented evidence, and my friends,… that’s fact!
Does this information absolve Lee Harvey Oswald of possible guilt? No. What it does do is demonstrate very clearly and without exception that there is indeed an abundance of “reasonable doubt”. In reality….the evidence goes beyond reasonable doubt, all the way to absolute certainty, that events did not unfold as the Warren Commission has claimed. If we are to ever uncover the truth, it will not be done by building upon a foundation of lies.
End of Part I
(To be continued)
1. http://www.ctka.net/pr198-jfk.html
2. http://www.jdtippit.com/happen_nov.htm
3. http://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php?topic=2248.10;wap2
4.http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol12/html/HSCA_Vol12_0021a.
htm
5. http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/crafard.htm
6. http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh14/pdf/WH14_EvaGrant.pdf
7. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth337700/m1/1/?q=joyce
8. http://www.mcadams.posc.mu.edu/car10.htm
9. http://www.mcadams.posc.mu.edu/car10.htm
10. http://www.mcadams.posc.mu.edu/car10.htm
11. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338334/m1/11/?q=J.D.Tippit
12. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338163/m1/1/?q=J.D.Tippit
13. http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/scoggins.htm
14. http://www.aarclibrary.org/public/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh3/pdf/WH3_Markham.pdf
15. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth340598/m1/1/?q=Helen Markham
16. http://jfkassassination.net/russ/jfkinfo3/exhibits/ce1119a.jpg
17. http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-report/chapter-4.html#description