Most of what we read about the Sylvia Odio incident is from the CT side. It is interesting to read James Hosty’s remarks. Here is some of what he has to say, from page 182-184 of Hosty’s book “Assignment Oswald”:
By this time, however, a major flaw had become apparent in Odio’s story. She said Oswald came to her home with the two Latins during a time period in which the CIA and Marina Oswald had both confirmed that Oswald was in Mexico City. After some digging, my fellow security agent Wally Heitman discovered the identity of one of the Latins. He turned out to be Loran Hall, a half-Indian who frequently passed as a Latin. Hall, Larry Howard, another non-Latin with dark enough skin to pass as Cuban, and William Seymour, a white man, were at Odio’s home that night collecting money for their anti-Castro group, Alpha 66, which was more extreme than JURE. Hall described Seymour as an ex-Marine who had frequently “popped off” about Kennedy. Alpha 66 and JURE were actually rival groups that frequently spied on each other.
In law enforcement, there are two common problems with eyewitnesses such as Odio pointing out a suspect. First, members of one ethnic group tend to have a difficult time properly identifying suspects from another. Second, when an eyewitness has been bombarded with pictures of a suspect’s face before a proper lineup can be done, they have trouble making a good ID. We concluded that Odio was mistaken. What was likely was that she mistakenly thought the non-Latin, Seymour, was named Leon, when it was actually Loran Hall who was being referred to. She had also mistaken Seymour for Oswald.
Heitman quickly put together his report, and it was sent to the Warren Commission just as they were closing shop in late August 1964. After the report came out, Seymour denied the story, at which point Hall withdrew his account.
Years later, in 1975, when assassination matters came to the surface again, so did Loran Hall’s name. Hall refused to testify regarding what he had told the FBI back in 1964. He now refused to say that he had visited Odio’s home. Looking at it from Hall’s perspective, this was not a surprise. His organization, Alpha 66, had been held responsible for numerous terrorist acts including the bombings of airplanes. Back in 1964 he had broken a silence and identified for the FBI a fellow Alpha 66 member, a mortal sin in any terrorist organization. Also, because Hall also told the FBI that Seymour had “popped off” at Kennedy, Alpha 66’s donations had fallen off sharply. Any further cooperation with the law would assure Hall trouble, possibly even an early grave. After he surfaced briefly in 1975, Hall took to hiding in southern Kansas near the Oklahoma border.
Unfortunately, some people still hold on to Odio’s story.
So, does this Heitman report Hosty refers to exist in the record?
