Author petitions judge to let him exhume Kilgallen’s body for DNA evidence

[Robert Reeves]

https://nypost.com/2019/08/10/author-petitions-judge-to-let-him-exhume-dorothy-kilgallens-body-for-dna-evidence/

An author who has investigated the mysterious death of newspaper columnist and TV star Dorothy Kilgallen has asked a judge to let him exhume her body for DNA evidence.

Mark Shaw, who wrote “The Reporter Who Knew Too Much” and “Denial of Justice,” filed a petition in Westchester Supreme Court last week to disinter Kilgallen’s body from the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne.

Shaw also wants the court to order a DNA sample from retired journalist Ron Pataky, now 84, to “establish his probable complicity in her death.”

Pataky has admitted he was the last person to see Kilgallen alive, Shaw writes.

A famous forensic expert, Dr. Cyril Wecht, has agreed to oversee the exhumation and DNA collection, Shaw says in his petition.

Shaw contends, in court papers and his books, that Pataky was helping Kilgallen’s enemies,  including Mafia boss Carlos Marcello, who wanted the reporter dead to quash her ongoing investigation into the JFK assassination.

The DNA tests, he said, may show that Kilgallen and Pataky had physical contact before she died suddenly at age 52 on Nov. 8, 1965.

After appearing as a regular panelist on the TV game show “What’s My Line?”  Kilgallen was found dead in her Manhattan apartment, naked under a robe and still wearing makeup. The medical examiner ruled it an accidental mix of booze and sleeping pills. Shaw contends she was drugged.

“A DNA match will confirm that either she touched him or he touched her, perhaps during an embrace, having sex, or just shaking hands when they parted,” Shaw told The Post.

Shaw has served the petition to exhume Kilgallen on her three children and Pataky, any of whom may object.

“A DNA match will confirm that either she touched him or he touched her, perhaps during an embrace, having sex, or just shaking hands when they parted,” Shaw told The Post.

Bizarre?

[Denis Pointing]

https://nypost.com/2019/08/10/author-petitions-judge-to-let-him-exhume-dorothy-kilgallens-body-for-dna-evidence/


Bizarre?

More like totally ridiculous! Even if the petition was successful (which I doubt) the body would be far too decomposed for reliable DNA readings. This is just a publicity stunt. What's the betting the guys got a new book coming out. Another vulture cashing in.

[Steve Howsley]

More like totally ridiculous! Even if the petition was successful (which I doubt) the body would be far too decomposed for reliable DNA readings. This is just a publicity stunt. What's the betting the guys got a new book coming out. Another vulture cashing in.

That's my bet too. Would anyone interested in establishing the truth no matter which side of the debate they support seriously trust Wecht to act at arm's length in overseeing the exhumation and DNA collection? That's bordering on a joke.

[Bill Chapman]

Boston Strangler Case: How Long Does DNA Last?
By Rachael Rettner 12 July 2013
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/38150-dna-degradation-rate.html

[Jerry Freeman]

That's my bet too. Would anyone interested in establishing the truth no matter which side of the debate they support seriously trust Wecht to act at arm's length in overseeing the exhumation and DNA collection? That's bordering on a joke.

There is always someone who thinks that bashing someone else's position bolsters theirs. Does Mr Howsley have a medical degree?

[Denis Pointing]

Boston Strangler Case: How Long Does DNA Last?
By Rachael Rettner 12 July 2013
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/38150-dna-degradation-rate.html

Bill, your linked article is referring to DNA from the actual deceased, bone marrow, teeth etc. But it's impossible to get DNA from the last person to have touched the deceased. How could it if the body has decomposed? The purpose of having the body exhumed is to purportedly see if DNA from Pataky can be recovered, which as Pataky has already admitted to being the last person to see Kilgallen alive it wouldn't prove anything! Also, it depends on 84 years old Pataky agreeing to submit DNA voluntarily for comparison, no judge would force him on these grounds. Innocent or not how likely is that? Bill, this is 100% publicity seeking..and it's working!! There's already been articles written about it and here we are discussing it on a public forum. If it wasn't so morbid it would be almost brilliant.

PS Surprise, surprise;  https://www.markshawbooks.com/

[Denis Pointing]

Surfing last evening and came across two long-term mysteries, both British and therefore eccentric.

     Shelagh McDonald (born 1948, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish folk singer,
     songwriter and guitarist who released two albums before her abrupt and
     mysterious disappearance in 1971. Nothing further was heard of her until 2005,
     when she made contact with the Scottish Daily Mail to tell the story of her
     intervening years.

     The "Body in the Cylinder" refers to a male decedent discovered within a partially
     sealed steel cylinder on a derelict WWII bomb site in Liverpool, England. The
     discovery was made in 1945 and it is believed that the body had lain undiscovered
     for 60 years.

Also was reading about Mary Jane Barker, a little American girl who went missing in 1953 who died from starvation while trapped in a closet of an unoccupied house. I assume this resulted in closet doors being made easier to open from inside. The unlocked closet door that trapped the girl had a door knob with a thumb latch inside.



So coincidental or happenstance things in the JFK assassination, BYDs and so forth are perfectly normal and to be expected.

Hey Jerry, you can't just spike our interest and then stop! Do you have links to the first two stories, please?