I have notes that say Craig died of a suicide, with a rifle shot to the chest.
Anyway, Alyea is an interesting witness, as is Roger Craig, which I will get to in a bit. Let's see what Alyea says about the rifle and shells.
Tom Alyea (WFAA-TV) claimed that he was the first one to discover the three shells "in an area that could have been covered by a bushel basket," and filmed them without being able to use his eyepiece due to the height of the box barricade. He then asked Capt. Fritz, standing beside him, to go behind the barricade and film. Instead, Capt. Fritz went inside the barricade, picked them up, and held them for Alyea to film. Fritz most likely pocketed the shells, which came in handy later.
"Over thirty minutes later, after the rifle was discovered and the crime lab arrived, Capt. Fritz reached into his pocket and handed the casings to Det. Studebaker to include in the photographs he would take of the sniper's nest crime scene. Studebaker never saw the original placement of the casings so he tossed them on the floor and photographed them."
Alyea further stated that all subsequent pictures of the shells and box positions were mock-ups. His testimony contradicts every officer on the scene in fact.
To wit:
- Fritz handled the hulls before the official photographer arrived (backed up by Mooney), Alyea found the shells, and Lt. Day lifted prints from Oswald’s rifle (confirmed by Day).
Fritz pocketed the live round he ejected (not Day and Sims), and his testimony about the chicken bones is astounding. - Alyea said that the chicken was not there and that the initial report was from WFAA-TV, and it was in error.
- As for the rifle find, Alyea says that the sixth floor sniper’s nest and shells had been found, but nothing else there. So they all took an elevator on Fritz’s orders to the 7th floor and the roof.
- Upon returning to the 6th, Alyea says that is when Dep. Boone found the rifle.
- He says Dep. Mooney came to the floor after the discovery of the rifle.
For the photos of the shells, Alyea said: "Neither Lt. Day nor Det. Studebaker had seen the original placement, so they procured my film from the TV station to get it right. The high angle shot (shots) were made to show the original placement. Their reconstruction was close, but not exact. However, they did not bring the casings with them so they did not make the correction of the original placement of the shell casings."
Alyea’s first reel of footage of the scene containing the search and the discovery of the shells, was passed out of the front door of the TSBD to another reporter. A second reel was passed out a window to a waiting reporter, and it was developed and shown on WFAA-TV later that day. In the second reel, you can see a plainclothes detective wielding a "riot" shotgun or possibly a rifle, lots of people searching on top of boxes, the hidden Carcano rifle, and the moment Lt. Day extracts the rifle and shows it to Capt. Fritz.
Alyea claims that everyone waited 15 minutes for Lt. Day and Det. Studebaker to photograph and extract the weapon as of course the famous Alyea footage shows.
He indicates that the discovery of the rifle was about an hour after the shells were found, and that they had just heard the news of the President’s death. Day immediately dusted the rifle and lifted some prints. Lt. Day went to the crime lab at City Hall, leaving Studebaker to take care of the photos of the shells and the dusting of the Dr Pepper bottle. (And subsequently, the paper sack.)
The Dr Pepper bottle and the chicken bones were brought up from the 5th floor. Alyea says that all of the reports of Lt. Day being on the 6th floor prior to the rifle discovery are lies (and collusion) to protect Capt. Fritz.
He says that Day had to wait on the 1st floor until the 6th floor had been secured or the gunman found. Alyea says that Lt. Day returned to the 6th floor after he had locked away the rifle to continue his evidence gathering. Alyea’s timeline covers the fact that flashlights were needed to conduct a thorough search of the poorly-lit book warehouse. He remembers Capt. Fritz being impatient, and that it was with the help of the flashlights that made discovery of the rifle possible a few minutes after they arrived in a place that had already been searched.
(See THE SNIPER'S NEST: INCARNATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS by Allan Eaglesham)
https://manuscriptservice.com/SN/officialsn.htmI am wondering how much of Alyea's yarn is believed? Like his film of the shells in Captain Fritz's hand and the original location of them, some of his testimony may end up on the cutting room floor.
One final thing. Rumor alert:
I thought Alyea stated that the film of the extraction of the rifle was a re-enactment. I can't find the source of that right now.
