The Remains of Bonnie Ray

[Dan O'meara]

On the day of the assassination, after breaking for lunch around 11:50am, Bonnie Ray Williams made his way back to the 6th floor to watch the motorcade. He'd collected his lunch from the Domino Room, which consisted of a chicken-on-the-bone sandwich and a bag of Fritos in a small, paper lunch bag, and he'd bought a bottle of Dr. Pepper from a first floor dispenser.
According to his WC testimony, BRW had his lunch while sat on a small trolley, a couple of aisles away from the Sniper's Nest, approximately 30ft from the window from which the assassin fired:
I ate my lunch--I am not sure about this, but the third or the fourth set of windows...
...I remember sitting on this two-wheeler. By that time, I was through, and I got up and I just left then.

The remains of his lunch - the bag [containing chicken left-overs and a piece of Fritos] and the empty soda bottle - were photographed by the DPD Crime Lab as part of their investigation of the crime scene. BRW is shown the photo, CE484, and asked if it was the place he was sitting when he had his lunch to which he replies:

Yes, sir; that is the exact place I was sitting.



Bonnie Ray is then given a diagram of the 6th floor [CE483] and asked to mark on it where he had his lunch. He draws a rough rectangle to indicate the general area, around the third and fourth windows.
I have added a Green X to indicate the more specific area the "two wheeler" trolley was located, the one he sat on while having his lunch. I have also added a Red X to indicate the location of the Sniper's Perch, the boxes used to rest the rifle on during the shooting. Why I have done this will become clear shortly, for now it is enough to notice that the distance between the two X's is approximately 25ft.



So far so good - Bonnie Ray has testified he was sat on a two wheeler trolley in front of the third set of windows from the east while he was having his lunch and the DPD crime lab photographed his lunch remains in that exact area. Bonnie Ray confirmed that these photos were of the exact location he was sat while he was having his lunch.
So what's the problem? Why should there be any issue over such an innocuous detail?

The problems start with the first officer to discover the location from which the assassin took his shots. In his report, from the day after the assassination, Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney writes:

I then went on back to the 6th floor and went direct to the far corner and then discovered a cubby hole which had been constructed out of cartons which protected it from sight and found where someone had been in an area of perhaps 2 feet surrounded by cardboard cartons of books. Inside this cubby hole affair was three more boxes so arranged as to provide what appeared to be a rest for a rifle. On one of these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. The minute that I saw the expended shells on the floor, I hung my head out of the half opened window and signaled to Sheriff Bill Decker and Captain Will Fritz who were outside the building and advised them to send up the Crime Lab Officers at once that I had located the area from which the shots had been fired. At this time, Officers Webster, Victory, and McCurley came over to this spot and we guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers got upstairs within a matter of a few minutes. We then turned this area over to Captain Fritz and his officers for processing

There are a number of points to be made about this section of the report:
1) Mooney describes a "cubby hole" "constructed out of cartons". The point of this specific construction was to protect this position from sight. This construction of cardboard cartons created an "area of perhaps 2 feet".
2) On one the cartons that formed the construction of this cubby hole "was a half-eaten piece of chicken".
3) On the floor of the cubby hole were "expended shells".
4) Whilst in the cubby hole Mooney signals for the Crime Lab
5) Other officers come to his location and they "guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers".

Mooney is describing a specific structure, constructed out of cartons full of books, and on top of one these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. In his WC testimony Mooney gives more detail about the moment he discovered the "cubby hole" [Sniper's Nest]:

"I went straight across to the southeast corner of the building, and I saw all these high boxes. Of course they were stacked all the way around over there. And I squeezed between two. And the minute I squeezed between these two stacks of boxes, I had to turn myself sideways to get in there that is when I saw the expended shells and the boxes that were stacked up looked to be a rest for the weapon. And, also, there was a slight crease in the top box. Whether the recoil made the crease or it was placed there before the shots were fired, I don't know. But, anyway, there was a very slight crease in the box, where the rifle could have lain--at the same angle that the shots were fired from."

The high boxes he squeezed through are the boxes that form the Sniper's Nest. It is notable he has to squeeze his way into it. Once inside he sees the expended shells and the boxes used as " a rest for the weapon" [Sniper's Perch].
The next part of his testimony is spent describing what he saw and did while he was in the SN. At one point Ball asks him - "Now, was there anything you saw over in the corner?", to which Mooney replies:

Mr. Mooney: No, sir; I didn't see anything over in the corner. I did see this one partially eaten piece of fried chicken laying over to the right. It looked like he was facing--
Mr. Ball: Tell us where you found it?
Mr. Mooney: It would be laying over on the top of these other boxes.

Ball cuts him off at this point - "We will get to that in a moment." The testimony moves on to the empty shells that were in the SN, Mooney's revelation that he watched Fritz pick up the shells and his confusion over the crime lab pictures of the shells and how they seemed to be in a different position than he remembered. It then moves on to the Sniper's Perch, the three boxes stacked up that appeared to be used as a rifle rest with the top box having a crease on the top of it.
Eventually, Ball asks about the lunch remains:

Mr. Mooney: If I recall correctly, the chicken bone could have been laying on this box or it might have been laying on this box right here.
Mr. Ball: Make a couple of marks there to indicate where possibly the chicken bone was lying.
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball: Make two "X's". You think there was a chicken bone on the top of either one of those two?
Mr. Mooney: There was one of them partially eaten. And there was a little small paper poke.
Mr. Ball: By poke, you mean a paper sack?
Mr. Mooney: Right.
Mr. Ball: Where was that?
Mr. Mooney: Saw the chicken bone was laying here. The poke was laying about a foot away from it.
Mr. Ball: On the same carton?
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir. In close relation to each other. But as to what was in the sack--it was kind of together, and I didn't open it. I didn't put my hands on it to open it. I only saw one piece of chicken.

During this phase of his testimony Mooney is describing the things he saw when he was in the SN and, once again he notes the partially eaten piece of chicken on top of one of the boxes used to construct the 'walls' of the SN. He also notes a small, paper lunch sack on the same box. He then gives a very precise idea of how far away from the Sniper's Perch these lunch remains were:

Senator Cooper: How far was the chicken, the piece of chicken you saw, and the paper bag from the boxes near the window, and particularly the box that had the crease in it?
Mr. Mooney: I would say they might have been 5 feet or something like that. He wouldn't have had to leave the location. He could just maybe take one step and lay it over there, if he was the one that put it there.
Senator Cooper: You mean if someone had been standing near the box with the crease in it?
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir.

Mooney could hardly be any more specific - the lunch remains were about 5ft from the box with the crease on top of it.
He is describing the lunch remains on top of the boxes forming the SN and that it would have taken a single step to place them there from the Sniper's Perch.
There was only one lunch sack recovered from the 6th floor by the Crime Lab and there was no pieces of chicken, other than those already in the lunch sack. Det. Robert Studebaker is specifically asked about this point during his WC testimony:

Mr. BALL. That's the sack, is that right?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. Yes.
Mr. BALL. And it shows - it has some chicken bones in it?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Any chicken bones in any other place?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. No.
Mr. BALL. None outside the sack?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. No; they were all inside the sack, wrapped up and put right back In. It had a little piece of Fritos in the sack, too.

How can this be?
How can the first officer on the scene describe a half-eaten piece of chicken and a lunch sack on one of the boxes that formed the small "cubby hole", yet by the time the Crime Lab takes their photos of the scene the only lunch sack on the 6th floor is stuffed down the side of a two-wheeler truck about 25ft away?
Where has the half-eaten piece of chicken gone?

The answer is simple - at some point, before the Crime Lab take their pictures, the half-eaten piece of chicken has been placed in the lunch sack which has then been moved 25ft away and stuffed down the side of the two wheeler truck.
What other credible explanation could there be?
However, this would mean Bonnie Ray lied about having his lunch on the two wheeler truck. Why would he do such a thing?

[Walt Cakebread]

On the day of the assassination, after breaking for lunch around 11:50am, Bonnie Ray Williams made his way back to the 6th floor to watch the motorcade. He'd collected his lunch from the Domino Room, which consisted of a chicken-on-the-bone sandwich and a bag of Fritos in a small, paper lunch bag, and he'd bought a bottle of Dr. Pepper from a first floor dispenser.
According to his WC testimony, BRW had his lunch while sat on a small trolley, a couple of aisles away from the Sniper's Nest, approximately 30ft from the window from which the assassin fired:
I ate my lunch--I am not sure about this, but the third or the fourth set of windows...
...I remember sitting on this two-wheeler. By that time, I was through, and I got up and I just left then.

The remains of his lunch - the bag [containing chicken left-overs and a piece of Fritos] and the empty soda bottle - were photographed by the DPD Crime Lab as part of their investigation of the crime scene. BRW is shown the photo, CE484, and asked if it was the place he was sitting when he had his lunch to which he replies:

Yes, sir; that is the exact place I was sitting.



Bonnie Ray is then given a diagram of the 6th floor [CE483] and asked to mark on it where he had his lunch. He draws a rough rectangle to indicate the general area, around the third and fourth windows.
I have added a Green X to indicate the more specific area the "two wheeler" trolley was located, the one he sat on while having his lunch. I have also added a Red X to indicate the location of the Sniper's Perch, the boxes used to rest the rifle on during the shooting. Why I have done this will become clear shortly, for now it is enough to notice that the distance between the two X's is approximately 25ft.



So far so good - Bonnie Ray has testified he was sat on a two wheeler trolley in front of the third set of windows from the east while he was having his lunch and the DPD crime lab photographed his lunch remains in that exact area. Bonnie Ray confirmed that these photos were of the exact location he was sat while he was having his lunch.
So what's the problem? Why should there be any issue over such an innocuous detail?

The problems start with the first officer to discover the location from which the assassin took his shots. In his report, from the day after the assassination, Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney writes:

I then went on back to the 6th floor and went direct to the far corner and then discovered a cubby hole which had been constructed out of cartons which protected it from sight and found where someone had been in an area of perhaps 2 feet surrounded by cardboard cartons of books. Inside this cubby hole affair was three more boxes so arranged as to provide what appeared to be a rest for a rifle. On one of these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. The minute that I saw the expended shells on the floor, I hung my head out of the half opened window and signaled to Sheriff Bill Decker and Captain Will Fritz who were outside the building and advised them to send up the Crime Lab Officers at once that I had located the area from which the shots had been fired. At this time, Officers Webster, Victory, and McCurley came over to this spot and we guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers got upstairs within a matter of a few minutes. We then turned this area over to Captain Fritz and his officers for processing

There are a number of points to be made about this section of the report:
1) Mooney describes a "cubby hole" "constructed out of cartons". The point of this specific construction was to protect this position from sight. This construction of cardboard cartons created an "area of perhaps 2 feet".
2) On one the cartons that formed the construction of this cubby hole "was a half-eaten piece of chicken".
3) On the floor of the cubby hole were "expended shells".
4) Whilst in the cubby hole Mooney signals for the Crime Lab
5) Other officers come to his location and they "guarded this spot until Crime Lab Officers".

Mooney is describing a specific structure, constructed out of cartons full of books, and on top of one these cartons was a half-eaten piece of chicken. In his WC testimony Mooney gives more detail about the moment he discovered the "cubby hole" [Sniper's Nest]:

"I went straight across to the southeast corner of the building, and I saw all these high boxes. Of course they were stacked all the way around over there. And I squeezed between two. And the minute I squeezed between these two stacks of boxes, I had to turn myself sideways to get in there that is when I saw the expended shells and the boxes that were stacked up looked to be a rest for the weapon. And, also, there was a slight crease in the top box. Whether the recoil made the crease or it was placed there before the shots were fired, I don't know. But, anyway, there was a very slight crease in the box, where the rifle could have lain--at the same angle that the shots were fired from."

The high boxes he squeezed through are the boxes that form the Sniper's Nest. It is notable he has to squeeze his way into it. Once inside he sees the expended shells and the boxes used as " a rest for the weapon" [Sniper's Perch].
The next part of his testimony is spent describing what he saw and did while he was in the SN. At one point Ball asks him - "Now, was there anything you saw over in the corner?", to which Mooney replies:

Mr. Mooney: No, sir; I didn't see anything over in the corner. I did see this one partially eaten piece of fried chicken laying over to the right. It looked like he was facing--
Mr. Ball: Tell us where you found it?
Mr. Mooney: It would be laying over on the top of these other boxes.

Ball cuts him off at this point - "We will get to that in a moment." The testimony moves on to the empty shells that were in the SN, Mooney's revelation that he watched Fritz pick up the shells and his confusion over the crime lab pictures of the shells and how they seemed to be in a different position than he remembered. It then moves on to the Sniper's Perch, the three boxes stacked up that appeared to be used as a rifle rest with the top box having a crease on the top of it.
Eventually, Ball asks about the lunch remains:

Mr. Mooney: If I recall correctly, the chicken bone could have been laying on this box or it might have been laying on this box right here.
Mr. Ball: Make a couple of marks there to indicate where possibly the chicken bone was lying.
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball: Make two "X's". You think there was a chicken bone on the top of either one of those two?
Mr. Mooney: There was one of them partially eaten. And there was a little small paper poke.
Mr. Ball: By poke, you mean a paper sack?
Mr. Mooney: Right.
Mr. Ball: Where was that?
Mr. Mooney: Saw the chicken bone was laying here. The poke was laying about a foot away from it.
Mr. Ball: On the same carton?
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir. In close relation to each other. But as to what was in the sack--it was kind of together, and I didn't open it. I didn't put my hands on it to open it. I only saw one piece of chicken.

During this phase of his testimony Mooney is describing the things he saw when he was in the SN and, once again he notes the partially eaten piece of chicken on top of one of the boxes used to construct the 'walls' of the SN. He also notes a small, paper lunch sack on the same box. He then gives a very precise idea of how far away from the Sniper's Perch these lunch remains were:

Senator Cooper: How far was the chicken, the piece of chicken you saw, and the paper bag from the boxes near the window, and particularly the box that had the crease in it?
Mr. Mooney: I would say they might have been 5 feet or something like that. He wouldn't have had to leave the location. He could just maybe take one step and lay it over there, if he was the one that put it there.
Senator Cooper: You mean if someone had been standing near the box with the crease in it?
Mr. Mooney: Yes, sir.

Mooney could hardly be any more specific - the lunch remains were about 5ft from the box with the crease on top of it.
He is describing the lunch remains on top of the boxes forming the SN and that it would have taken a single step to place them there from the Sniper's Perch.
There was only one lunch sack recovered from the 6th floor by the Crime Lab and there was no pieces of chicken, other than those already in the lunch sack. Det. Robert Studebaker is specifically asked about this point during his WC testimony:

Mr. BALL. That's the sack, is that right?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. Yes.
Mr. BALL. And it shows - it has some chicken bones in it?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. Any chicken bones in any other place?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. No.
Mr. BALL. None outside the sack?
Mr. STUDEBAKER. No; they were all inside the sack, wrapped up and put right back In. It had a little piece of Fritos in the sack, too.

How can this be?
How can the first officer on the scene describe a half-eaten piece of chicken and a lunch sack on one of the boxes that formed the small "cubby hole", yet by the time the Crime Lab takes their photos of the scene the only lunch sack on the 6th floor is stuffed down the side of a two-wheeler truck about 25ft away?
Where has the half-eaten piece of chicken gone?

The answer is simple - at some point, before the Crime Lab take their pictures, the half-eaten piece of chicken has been placed in the lunch sack which has then been moved 25ft away and stuffed down the side of the two wheeler truck.
What other credible explanation could there be?
However, this would mean Bonnie Ray lied about having his lunch on the two wheeler truck. Why would he do such a thing?

 Bonnie Ray lied about having his lunch on the two wheeler truck. Why would he do such a thing?

Because he was a scared black kid who had witnessed the murder of Lee Oswald..... He knew that Lee hadn't been on the sixth floor and therefore was not an assassin.   But he was frightened and smart enough to say what he was told to say.

[Dan O'meara]

It would be one thing if Mooney were the only officer to have noticed the lunch remains on the boxes that formed the SN, but he wasn't.
This is from the WC testimony of Jerry Hill. At this phase of his testimony he is describing what happened when he reached the 6th floor:

We hadn't been there 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.

Hill clarifies that he is talking about the south-east corner of the floor. He then goes into more detail about the boxes "stacked in sort of a triangle shape":

There was the boxes. The boxes were stacked in sort of a three-sided shield.
That would have concealed from general view, unless somebody specifically walked up and looked over them, anyone who was in a sitting or crouched position between them and the window. In front of this window and to the left or east corner of the window, there were two boxes, cardboard boxes that had the words "Roller books," on them.
On top of the larger stack of boxes that would have been used for concealment. there was a chicken leg bone and a paper sack which appeared to have been about the size normally used for a lunch sack.

Hill is clearly describing Mooney's "cubby hole". A shield constructed of boxes designed to conceal the sniper's position from general view. On top of one of the stacks of boxes used to construct the SN, Hill describes a piece of chicken and a lunch sack - exactly as Mooney described.
The following two officers describe seeing a piece of chicken on a box in the south-east corner of the 6th floor, where Mooney was situated when he called out:

Deputy Sheriff A D McCurley

"We were searching the 6th floor when Deputy Sheriff Mooney...hollered that he had found the place where the assassin had fired from. I went over and saw three expended shells laying by the window that faced onto Elm Street, along with a half-eaten piece of chicken that was laying on a cardboard carton. It appeared as if the assassin had piled up a bunch of boxes to hid him from anyone who happened to come up on that floor..."

Deputy Sheriff Harry Weatherford

"I came down to the 6th floor and while searching this floor, Deputy Luke Mooney said, "Here are some shells". I went over to where he was and saw three expended rifle shells, a sack on the floor and a partially eaten piece of chicken on top of one of the cartons which was used as a sort of barricade..."


There is little doubt that the lunch remains left by Bonnie Ray Williams were discovered on top of a stack of boxes that formed part of the SN and not about 25ft away, in a lunch bag on the floor, where they were photographed by Studebaker.
All the officers quoted above arrived on the scene before the Crime Lab. When Studebaker arrived to take the photos I imagine he had no idea the lunch remains had been moved to the area he photographed them - stuffed down the side of the two wheeler trolley, 25ft away from the SN.

[Richard Smith]

So what is being suggested?  I'm not exactly sure why all this matters.  We know with absolute certainty that at 12:30 someone (i.e. Oswald) was pointing a rifle out the 6th floor window.  So someone was there at 12:30 whether BRW saw or heard anything while having his lunch.  It seems extremely unlikely that BRW would have seen or heard anything suspicious and never mentioned it to anyone.  And would go to the window directly below if he had reason to believe something was up on the 6th floor.

[Walt Cakebread]

So what is being suggested?  I'm not exactly sure why all this matters.  We know with absolute certainty that at 12:30 someone (i.e. Oswald) was pointing a rifle out the 6th floor window.  So someone was there at 12:30 whether BRW saw or heard anything while having his lunch.  It seems extremely unlikely that BRW would have seen or heard anything suspicious and never mentioned it to anyone.  And would go to the window directly below if he had reason to believe something was up on the 6th floor.

 We know with absolute certainty that at 12:30 someone was pointing a rifle out the 6th floor window.

Who is "we".....  you and your cat ?....  And since you know we "absolute certainty"  please present  a photo as "absolute verification".   

[Richard Smith]

 We know with absolute certainty that at 12:30 someone was pointing a rifle out the 6th floor window.

Who is "we".....  you and your cat ?....  And since you know we "absolute certainty"  please present  a photo as "absolute verification".

Several witnesses described seeing the rifle pointing out the window at the moment of the assassination.  That is the reason that there are photos of the window taken moments later by Robert Jackson.  Are you suggesting all these folks were mistaken and they just decided to take a photo of the window for no apparent reason?

[Walt Cakebread]

Several witnesses described seeing the rifle pointing out the window at the moment of the assassination.  That is the reason that there are photos of the window taken moments later by Robert Jackson.  Are you suggesting all these folks were mistaken and they just decided to take a photo of the window for no apparent reason?

I simply asked you to PROVE that there was a rifle pointing out of the window AT THE TIME OF THE SHOOTING....

Solid irrefutable prove  ..... Not statements from spectators....

[Richard Smith]

I simply asked you to PROVE that there was a rifle pointing out of the window AT THE TIME OF THE SHOOTING....

Solid irrefutable prove  ..... Not statements from spectators....

This is comedy gold.  I got to ask this one.  Wait for it.  What would constitute "solid irrefutable prove" if you don't accept the statements from multiple witnesses who were present or physical evidence left by Oswald (e.g. his rifle)?  Several witnesses confirmed that a rifle was pointed out the 6th floor window at the moment the shots were fired.  The folks under that window on the 5th floor confirmed that the shots came from just about their heads.  They actually heard the rifle being used.  Robert Jackson took a photo of the window moments after the assassination because he saw the rifle.