NEW JFK AUTOPSY PHOTOS FOUND
 UPDATED 3-1-98
Doug Horne of ARRB provided this summary to Steve
Barber:
The film found was a 120 roll, underexposed. Only 3 frames
revealed anything at all. The quality is too dark and grainy
to really see much of anything.
1. Photo #1 shows left side of body with a towel around the
abdomen.
2. Photo #2 shows top of skull-but can't make out any detail.
3. Photo #3 is a 45 degree angle taken over the right shoulder,
which also shows the towel over the abdomen.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LANCER INDEPENDENT NEWS EXCHANGE
CONTACT:
Debra Conway debra@jfklancer.com 949-699-2744
Joe Backes joebackes@aol.com 518-482-9049
September 12, 1998 --Autopsy Photographs Digitized--Additional
Photos Found But Not Available to the Public
The Washington, DC based Assassination Records Review Board
identified additional latent autopsy photographs on a roll of
film in the National Archives that had (inaccurately) been described
as "exposed."
At the September 10th public meeting during a question and
answer session, ARRB Staff member Doug Horne pronounced, "They
are color. It appears to be a roll of film that is very much
underexposed. So you really have to blast a lot of light through
it. They look black to the naked eye until you put it in front
of a bright light and that's what Kodak did. So they are very
grainy and very dark, as though the flash wasn't in sync or something."
With the cooperation of Kodak, the National Archives, the
FBI, and a representative of the Kennedy family, the Review Board
was able to provide secure transportation to ship the autopsy
photographs to Rochester, New York, to be digitized on the best
digital scanner in the world. There the latent photographs were
digitized and enhanced for further evaluation.
Board member Dr. Anna Nelson stated, "I think it was
a sense that we thought we might be the last chance."
Burke Marshall, former assistant Attorney General, Kennedy
family friend and representative of the executors of the president's
estate, restricted access to the autopsy materials under a "Donor
Deed of Gift" to the National Archives. These restrictions
as set in October of 1969 were kept as an exemption of the JFK
Act (Public Law 102-526) and thus the Board could not open them
up to the public.
Judge John Tunheim, Chairman of the Records Review Board,
said, "The digitized copies of the autopsy photographs were
made with the express permission of Professor Marshall with the
understanding that they would be a part of the same collection
as the official autopsy photographs because they are indeed the
same images as the official photographs. So they are at the National
Archives and subject to the same restrictions that the original
photographs." This means the public will not be allowed
to view the three photos found.
Tunheim went on to state, "They are there for qualified
researchers who can convince Professor Marshall of the need to
see them."
A transcript by Assassination Records Review Board expert,
Joe Backes, of this question and answer session includes updates
on the Dallas Parkland Hospital personnel depositions, the KGB
Files, and the Zapruder Film negotiations.
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top
Autopsy Photographs Digitized--Additional Photos Found
(LINE)--by Joe Backes and Debra Conway
On July 31st, 1998 the Assassination Records Review Board
released depositions of persons who were present at the autopsy
of President John F. Kennedy or had knowledgeable information
about the autopsy. This material consisted of about 3,500 pages.
Among this material was a report from the ARRB's staff. As the
release of this material was eagerly looked forward to by many
in the JFK assassination research community, especially as it's
release was promised more than a year prior, many zoomed right
past the staff report to read the depositions. "The Associated
Press" ran three stories relating to the depositions, but
even the media paid little if any attention to the staff's report.
The first thing people should have read, and with care, was
the staff report. A very few did. On August 31, 1998 Debra Conway
of JFK Lancer typed the staff report and placed it on the
LINE web site.
Now, it should be noted that there is one, and only one JFK
assassination researcher was has attended nearly every ARRB meeting.
His name is Joseph Backes. It was Mr. Backes who informed the
JFK Assassination research community of the imminent release
of these medical depositions following his attendance of an ARRB
meeting July 8th, 1998. And it is that commitment to follow the
activities of the ARRB closely that made acquiring the medical
depositions as soon as they were available impossible for him.
Just when the newsworthiness of this new material seemed to
be over, Mr. Backes was informed about a line in the staff's
report about a new discovery. Based on information from LINE's
web site Vern and Jeff Pascal informed Mr. Backes about new autopsy
photographs being discovered. Mr. Backes had by now ordered the
material but had not yet received them.
Joe Backes contacted Debra Conway on September 2, 1998 verified
this story was correct. He stated his intention to attend the
next open meeting of the ARRB and would attempt to get answers
on these "found" photos. Mr. Backes also alerted a
media contact from "The Associated Press," Ms. Deb
Reichmann, who had written earlier reports on this medical evidence
and asked her to please attend this next ARRB meeting.
Upon checking, Backes found these photos are included on the
"Burke Marshall" listing of the "Deed of Gift"
materials. (See Harold Weisberg's "Post Mortem" pp.
558-559. Also, see "The New York Times" Saturday, January
6, 1968.) and thus fell under the single exemption in the JFK
Act (Public Law 102-526) defining what is not an "assassination
record." This meant that the restrictions placed upon these
materials by Professor Marshall, Kennedy family friend and attorney,
remain in place and the ARRB cannot open them to the public.
up
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 This photographic
find was from a roll of color film thought to have been exposed
to light prior to processing thus destroying the film. And is
so listed as such in the Burke Marshall appendix to what was
donated to the National Archives. In fact, that was not the case.
The film was processed, however, the film was either horribly
overexposed or underexposed and is very dark to the naked eye.
Robert Groden examined this material when he worked for the
House Select Committee on Assassinations which investigated the
assassination in the 1970's. He found that there were images
on the film and requested further examination and study of this
but his report was ignored.
The ARRB learned of the images being present and asked Prof.
Marshall for permission to examine the roll of film to see if
current technologies could produce any image. Permission was
granted. The roll of film was examined by KODAK and RIT. This
was the bit of news that was in the staff report that nearly
everyone missed.
Unknown was how many images were found and what did they show?
Also, of interest was the issue of public access. What follows
is a transcript,
prepared by Mr. Backes, of the Question and Answer period, graciously
allowed by the Board after their latest (Sept 9th, 1998) open
meeting.
 TRANSCRIPT
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