Dan, Steve,
According to Fletcher L Prouty the SS man at LHO's initial interrogation at DPD was a man named Charlie. I class FLP as a credible witness / source so I would say it was Charlie Kunkel who was on an "unspecified investigation in Washington"
Lee,
On the afternoon of November 22nd, Detective James Leavelle was spearheading the investigation of Oswald for the murder of Officer J.D. Tippit. On April 7, 1964 he testified to the Warren Commission that he had gone to the Texas Theater, but because of the heavy traffic, had arrived too late to participate in Oswald?s arrest. He then went back to the police station and took affidavits from witnesses. ?So, I proceeded back to the office to work on that end of it, checking with the captain, and they was tied up with the Presidential assassination, and not until we got there did I realize some few minutes later on, when talking to some of the people of the Texas Book Depository, did we realize Oswald could very well be the same one who assassinated the President.?(69).
The minute that connection was made, the focus of the investigation changed. Will Fritz wanted Oswald in his office right then. FBI agents were called in and if six members of the Dallas Police Department can be believed, at least one Secret Service Agent whose identity has remained a secret ever since November 22, 1963. I believe that Agent is Charles Kunkel, the one Agent whose whereabouts on November 22nd can?t be confirmed. Policemen are proud of their collars and even after 35 years the idea of having one taken away from you still rankles. On the 35th anniversary of the assassination, the Texas Monthly magazine did an interview with several people who were witnesses to the events of November 22nd. One of the interviewees was Detective Jim Leavelle. During the conversation, he had this to say, ?I talked to him, yeah, about 10, maybe 15 minutes one-on-one before Captain Fritz and the other officers came back from the book depository, preparatory to going look for him, and found out he was already there. When the Captain came in and asked me what his name was, and I told him, he asked me where he worked, and he said the book depository, he said, 'You're the one I want to talk to.' So, in essence, they took my prisoner away. I lost my prisoner. He and Chief Charles of the Secret Service.?(70).
Why Leavelle would have referred to him as ?Chief? Charles is a mystery, and we can?t ask Kunkel because he passed away on June 27, 1992. When I asked James Leavelle why he referred to this person as Chief Charles in the article, former Detective Leavelle answered, ?I did not say Charles, I said ?Sorrels, Chief of the S.S.?.?(71). I asked the author of the article, Joe Patoski if he had recorded the interview. He wrote me and said that he had not recorded the interview. He used notes and was unsure where those notes were now.(72). So, is this an error in transcription? We?ll probably never know.
In a July 9, 1992 article, the
Cross Plains Review said that Charles Kunkel went on to become the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Austin Office, where he retired in 1982. (73). By James Levealle's reasoning, Charles Kunkel would also be called ?Chief? Charles.
69. Testimony of James R. Leavelle. Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits, volume VII, p. 262, as cited in the History Matters Archive
http://www.history-m..._Vol7_0135b.htm
70. Patoski, Joe Nick. ?What They Saw Then: Unedited Transcripts?, Texas Monthly, November, 1998. as cited in:
http://web.archive.o...anscripts.1.php
71. Email from Detective James Leavelle, retired. February 28, 2003.
72. Email from Joe Nick Patoski. March 3, 2003.
73. Texas Tech University Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library
Cross Plains Review, July 9, 1992 Article not bylined.
https://swco-ir.tdl.org/swco-ir/handle/10605/231140Steve Thomas