Mary Haverstick's Historic New Book on the JFK Case

[Michael T. Griffith]

Mary Haverstick’s new book, A Woman I Know: Female Spies, Double Identities, and a New Story of the Kennedy Assassination, is both fascinating and ground-breaking. I believe Haverstick has uncovered some truly historic information, and that her book is a serious work of scholarship that should be read by anyone who is interested in the JFK assassination.

Here are the most important things about the book, in my opinion:

-- Haverstick definitely proves that Jerrie Cobb was the CIA agent who used the identities of June Cobb and Catherine Taafe.

She proves, with photographic evidence, that Jerrie Cobb had the same “26” scar on her left forearm that two of Castro’s thugs carved into Catherine Taafe’s left forearm in February 1960.

She proves, again with photographic evidence, that Jerrie Cobb had the same circular, two-ring leishmaniasis scar on her left clavicle that June Cobb had on her left clavicle.

She proves that CIA records and other sources show an amazing activity overlap and checkerboard-like synchronicity between the lives of Jerrie Cobb and June Cobb and Catherine Taafe. Consider the amazing parallels between Jerrie Cobb and the CIA June Cobb:

Both came from Ponca City, Oklahoma. They were the same height and weight. Both lived for a time in Norman, Oklahoma. Both were in the Civil Air Patrol, a rare thing for women back then. Both were fluent Spanish speakers. Both lived extensively in Latin America. Both left home in their twenties for South America. Both lobbied on behalf of the Indigenous tribes at the Amazon headwaters. Both visited the isolated Andes mountains in the early 1950s, when almost no white people had ever been there. Both advocated for causes related to the coca-leaf-chewing habits of the Andean natives. Both exited the jungle from their expeditions with a lifelong jungle-borne disease (leishmaniasis).

Once in South America, both worked for aviation firms serving identical countries—Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru. Both traveled into dark corners of the Amazon jungle, and both got there by flying with a new love who was also a pilot. Both considered their respective affairs to be the love of their lives, and both relationships ended tragically.

Both traveled the same geographic circuit of cities in perpetual motion. Both had indications of wealth but no visible means of support. Both disappeared for extended periods of time during their lives. Both were well connected to the national and international press.

Both opposed some of John F. Kennedy’s policies. Both were in Mexico City six weeks before Kennedy was killed. Both intersected with events surrounding Kennedy’s death.

-- Haverstick interviewed a person who knew the CIA June Cobb very well, Fortuna Calvo-Roth. She showed Fortuna nine photos that included one alleged photo of the CIA June Cobb and two photos of Jerrie Cobb. Fortuna identified the two photos of Jerrie Cobb as the CIA June Cobb. When Haverstick asked her about the photo of the CIA June Cobb, she said it was not June Cobb.

-- Haverstick discovered that Jerrie Cobb was an experienced target shooter, and that she had excellent marksmanship skills.

-- Haverstick makes a strong case that Jerrie Cobb was the CIA assassin codenamed QJWIN. No other proposed candidate for QJWIN comes close to Cobb’s qualifications for being QJWIN.

-- Haverstick makes a plausible case that Jerrie Cobb was the Babushka Lady.

Haverstick’s ID of Jerrie Cobb as the Babushka Lady is strengthened by Cobb’s admission to her that she was the pilot of the suspicious plane at Redbird Airport on 11/22/63. The ID is also strengthened by Jerrie Cobb’s statement to Haverstick that June Cobb knew who killed JFK.

-- Even if one rejects Haverstick’s Cobb-Babushka ID, she makes a very good case that the Babushka Lady’s conduct during and after the shooting was unusual and suspicious.

-- Haverstick’s theory that the Babushka Lady was holding a gun disguised as a camera is entirely plausible and feasible.

-- Haverstick’s research on Cobb’s use of multiple identities and on Cobb’s pretending to be pro-Castro and pro-Soviet provides us with useful insights into Oswald’s pro-Castro/Soviet posturing.

-- Haverstick makes a credible case that the ZR/Rifle program’s primary target was JFK, and that high-ranking CIA officers William Harvey and Arnold Silver were two of the main drivers behind it.

-- Haverstick's segments on Oswald's activities in Mexico City and elsewhere, Ruth Paine, Michael Paine, and false defectors are valuable and insightful.

Haverstick’s knowledge regarding the intelligence-related aspects of the JFK case is superb and impressive. However, her knowledge of certain other aspects of the case is not as advanced as her knowledge of intelligence matters. She makes a few mistakes regarding non-intel elements of the assassination. She assumes that the initial police description of the sixth-floor gunman closely resembled Oswald. She appears to think that Oswald may have fired shots at JFK. She assumes the backyard rifle photos are authentic. She assumes that Tippit stopped Oswald based on the police description of the shooter, and that Oswald shot Tippit. But, these issues constitute a very small segment of the book and do not detract from the historic information that she presents regarding Jerrie/June Cobb, QJWIN, false defectors, the CIA's use of multiple identities for some agents, and the ZR/RIFLE program.

We should keep in mind that Haverstick knew little about the JFK case before she became interested in Jerrie Cobb’s identity as June Cobb. And, again, her mistakes on non-intel aspects of the case are understandable, brief, and relatively unimportant compared to all the other information in her book.

Mary Haverstick's background should cause any serious researcher to give her a fair hearing. She is a successful film director and writer. She has directed four movies, including the 2008 movie Home starring Oscar winner Marcia Harden and the 2018 movie The Last Horsemen of New York starring Oscar winner Liam Neeson.

Another thing that makes her JFK research worth a fair hearing is that she had no interest in the JFK case for most of her life and only became interested in the case accidentally as a result of her work on a film about Jerrie Cobb’s aviation career.

On a technical note, the book is superbly written. It is a real page-turner. I had a hard time putting it down and was always anxious to resume reading it.

Finally, newcomers and researchers alike will find this book interesting and worthwhile, if not historic and ground-breaking.

[Tom Scully]

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/#comment-521596
 Posted December 1 (edited)

"So far as I can tell the human sources of the Lafitte Datebook, the physical object, Renee and Phen Lafitte, have only a single witness on earth who has stated firsthand for the record having seen either of those women in recent decades. That is the late Hank Albarelli who passed away in 2019. That means there is no known person alive on earth today who can attest to have personally seen either of those women in corporeal bodily form. Nor is there any known trace of either of those women’s corporeal existences in recent decades to be found on the internet, nor is there any known photo of either of those women in recent decades.

Phen Lafitte, said to be of Miami, but with no known mailing address, no photo, no known documentary record of existence, no known employment, no known home address, not claimed to have been witnessed in the flesh by any living person on earth, is the asserted legal holder of copyright on the Lafitte Datebook of record.
Edited 13 hours ago by Greg Doudna"


https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/714185735/
December 20, 1934
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper
The Daily Item from Port Chester, New York • page 2

"Pierre Courret 32 chef at the Plneridge Country Club Purchase and Mias Renee Chagnot 10 of Chicago were also married by Judge Mintxer "

New York, U.S., Death Index, 1852-1956
View image
View record
Record details
Name   Pierre Couret
Age   41
Birth Date   abt 1904
Death Date   26 Jul 1945
Death Place   Patterson, New York, USA
Certificate Number   41415

1950 US Census, South Putnam, NY
Household Members (Name)    Age    Relationship
Piere Schaefer  50 Head
Renee Schaefer    45    Wife
Michel Couret 9
   Stepson (Step Son)
Piere Couret 4
   Stepson (Step Son)

Ancestry.com transcription above, of 1950 US Census page iage, versus actual image, below:



https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170691203/pierre-phillip_xavier-lafitte
He is survived by his loving wife Denise Lafitte, his two daughters, Danielle Cook and Janine Gilboy, and his son Jon Pierre Lafitte as well as his seven grandchildren; Emma; his brother, Michele Couret of Merrimack NH.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-journal-lafitte-16/91683525/



https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/page/4/#comment-523024
Leslie Sharp -  Posted 1 hour ago. December 13, 2023

 O bituary - T e le grap h, T he (Nashua, NH) - June 22, 20 0 0
June 22, 2000 | Teleg raph, The (Nashua, NH)
Reneé (Chag not) Martin, 95, of Goffstown, died Wednesday, June 21, 2000, at the Villa Crest
Retirement Community in Manchester.
Mrs. Martin was born Nov., 24, 1904 in Seloncour, France, to the late Emile and Eugenie (Guetal)
Chagnot. She later moved to New York state.
She was the widow of Jean Pierre Martin.
Mrs. Martin worked as a model in New York City. She also owned a restaurant, "Couret's" with her
first husband.
She graduated from Hunter College with an associate's degree.
Survivors include two sons, Michel E. Couret of Goffstown and Pierre X. Lafitte of Littleton; 11
grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
T he French & Rising Funeral Home in Goffstown is in charge of arrangements.
CIT AT ION (AGLC S T YLE)

[Mark A. Oblazney]

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/#comment-521596
 Posted December 1 (edited)

"So far as I can tell the human sources of the Lafitte Datebook, the physical object, Renee and Phen Lafitte, have only a single witness on earth who has stated firsthand for the record having seen either of those women in recent decades. That is the late Hank Albarelli who passed away in 2019. That means there is no known person alive on earth today who can attest to have personally seen either of those women in corporeal bodily form. Nor is there any known trace of either of those women’s corporeal existences in recent decades to be found on the internet, nor is there any known photo of either of those women in recent decades.

Phen Lafitte, said to be of Miami, but with no known mailing address, no photo, no known documentary record of existence, no known employment, no known home address, not claimed to have been witnessed in the flesh by any living person on earth, is the asserted legal holder of copyright on the Lafitte Datebook of record.
Edited 13 hours ago by Greg Doudna"


https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/714185735/
December 20, 1934
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper
The Daily Item from Port Chester, New York • page 2

"Pierre Courret 32 chef at the Plneridge Country Club Purchase and Mias Renee Chagnot 10 of Chicago were also married by Judge Mintxer "

New York, U.S., Death Index, 1852-1956
View image
View record
Record details
Name   Pierre Couret
Age   41
Birth Date   abt 1904
Death Date   26 Jul 1945
Death Place   Patterson, New York, USA
Certificate Number   41415

1950 US Census, South Putnam, NY
Household Members (Name)    Age    Relationship
Piere Schaefer  50 Head
Renee Schaefer    45    Wife
Michel Couret 9
   Stepson (Step Son)
Piere Couret 4
   Stepson (Step Son)

Ancestry.com transcription above, of 1950 US Census page iage, versus actual image, below:



https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170691203/pierre-phillip_xavier-lafitte
He is survived by his loving wife Denise Lafitte, his two daughters, Danielle Cook and Janine Gilboy, and his son Jon Pierre Lafitte as well as his seven grandchildren; Emma; his brother, Michele Couret of Merrimack NH.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-journal-lafitte-16/91683525/



https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/page/4/#comment-523024
Leslie Sharp -  Posted 1 hour ago. December 13, 2023

 O bituary - T e le grap h, T he (Nashua, NH) - June 22, 20 0 0
June 22, 2000 | Teleg raph, The (Nashua, NH)
Reneé (Chag not) Martin, 95, of Goffstown, died Wednesday, June 21, 2000, at the Villa Crest
Retirement Community in Manchester.
Mrs. Martin was born Nov., 24, 1904 in Seloncour, France, to the late Emile and Eugenie (Guetal)
Chagnot. She later moved to New York state.
She was the widow of Jean Pierre Martin.
Mrs. Martin worked as a model in New York City. She also owned a restaurant, "Couret's" with her
first husband.
She graduated from Hunter College with an associate's degree.
Survivors include two sons, Michel E. Couret of Goffstown and Pierre X. Lafitte of Littleton; 11
grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
T he French & Rising Funeral Home in Goffstown is in charge of arrangements.
CIT AT ION (AGLC S T YLE)

Nice to see you back in the fray, Tom.  Been reading some of your old posts at Parker's Palace.  Heavy sigh.  Hey, what else is there to do, it's the end of the world as we knew it.

[Michael T. Griffith]

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/#comment-521596
 Posted December 1 (edited)

"So far as I can tell the human sources of the Lafitte Datebook, the physical object, Renee and Phen Lafitte, have only a single witness on earth who has stated firsthand for the record having seen either of those women in recent decades. That is the late Hank Albarelli who passed away in 2019. That means there is no known person alive on earth today who can attest to have personally seen either of those women in corporeal bodily form. Nor is there any known trace of either of those women’s corporeal existences in recent decades to be found on the internet, nor is there any known photo of either of those women in recent decades.

Phen Lafitte, said to be of Miami, but with no known mailing address, no photo, no known documentary record of existence, no known employment, no known home address, not claimed to have been witnessed in the flesh by any living person on earth, is the asserted legal holder of copyright on the Lafitte Datebook of record.
Edited 13 hours ago by Greg Doudna"

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/714185735/
December 20, 1934
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper
The Daily Item from Port Chester, New York • page 2

"Pierre Courret 32 chef at the Plneridge Country Club Purchase and Mias Renee Chagnot 10 of Chicago were also married by Judge Mintxer "

New York, U.S., Death Index, 1852-1956
View image
View record
Record details
Name   Pierre Couret
Age   41
Birth Date   abt 1904
Death Date   26 Jul 1945
Death Place   Patterson, New York, USA
Certificate Number   41415

1950 US Census, South Putnam, NY
Household Members (Name)    Age    Relationship
Piere Schaefer  50 Head
Renee Schaefer    45    Wife
Michel Couret 9
   Stepson (Step Son)
Piere Couret 4
   Stepson (Step Son)

Ancestry.com transcription above, of 1950 US Census page iage, versus actual image, below:

He is survived by his loving wife Denise Lafitte, his two daughters, Danielle Cook and Janine Gilboy, and his son Jon Pierre Lafitte as well as his seven grandchildren; Emma; his brother, Michele Couret of Merrimack NH.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-journal-lafitte-16/91683525/

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/29939-mary-haversticks-important-new-book-on-the-jfk-assassination/page/4/#comment-523024
Leslie Sharp -  Posted 1 hour ago. December 13, 2023

 O bituary - T e le grap h, T he (Nashua, NH) - June 22, 20 0 0
June 22, 2000 | Teleg raph, The (Nashua, NH)
Reneé (Chag not) Martin, 95, of Goffstown, died Wednesday, June 21, 2000, at the Villa Crest
Retirement Community in Manchester.
Mrs. Martin was born Nov., 24, 1904 in Seloncour, France, to the late Emile and Eugenie (Guetal)
Chagnot. She later moved to New York state.
She was the widow of Jean Pierre Martin.
Mrs. Martin worked as a model in New York City. She also owned a restaurant, "Couret's" with her
first husband.
She graduated from Hunter College with an associate's degree.
Survivors include two sons, Michel E. Couret of Goffstown and Pierre X. Lafitte of Littleton; 11
grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
T he French & Rising Funeral Home in Goffstown is in charge of arrangements.
CIT AT ION (AGLC S T YLE)

Most of this is irrelevant trivia, and none of it proves anything against Haverstick's research. You obviously have not read Haverstick's book.