In my previous post on this subject, I included what was published in news story accounts as the established time- line of Lee Oswald's wedding ring. My investigation of this time-line and some of those newspaper and online articles, strongly suggested that Oswald in fact, had no wedding ring and that the ring now on display was very possibly Marina Oswald's ring. I have since uncovered more evidence that establishes fraud beyond a reasonable doubt, and have assembled what I believe to be a far more accurate time-line of events followed by my final conclusions. TIME-LINE OF A DUAL-PURPOSE FRAUD
1957-1958: Oswald buys a Marine Corps ring while stationed in Japan
1960-61: Lee is making inquiries about Russian marriage customs concerning silver engagement rings and gold wedding rings for the bride-to-be. He makes no inquiries about rings for grooms-to-be. (Oswald's Ghost by Norman Mailer, p127)
Jan 1960-Nov 22, 1963: Lee takes his Marine Corps ring off while at work
1961: Lee buys a silver engagement ring and gold wedding ring in Minsk for Marina Prusakova.
April 30, 1961: Lee marries Marina. Speculation: Uses his Marine Corps ring in the ceremony. If true, for all intents and purposes, this was his wedding ring. Indeed, Marina described his wedding ring to the Warren Commission as being "wide", which does describe the Marine Corps ring, but not the wedding ring now on display at the Sixth Floor Museum.
May 22, 1962: Lee offers to give his friend, Ernst Titovets his Marine Corps ring as he is departing the next day to the US and wants to leave Titovets something to remember him by. Titovets refuses to accept it, noting that Lee wears it "constantly" (The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union by Peter Savodnik, ebook, unpaginated). Speculation: it is reasonable to ask why he would give away a ring if he was married in it. The answer is that perhaps he intended to replace it with a real wedding band, or else he was simply married without a ring, as many men are.
Nov 22, 1963: After the search of the Paine house, Marina is taken in for questioning by the DPD and provides an affidavit This statement contains nothing about a ring being left by Lee that morning. (affidavit of Marina Oswald, Nov 22, 1963). Just after 4:00 pm, Lee gives his USMC ring to Det. Sims during a body search.
Nov 22, 1963: Speculation: Marina returns to the Paine house and takes her own wedding ring off, placing it in a cup on her bedroom dresser.
Nov 23, 1963: Marina, now in “protective custody”, phones Ruth Paine to tell her "about the ring" (FBI report dated Jan 16, 1964). The report is non-specific about which ring is being referenced, or what specifically Marina is telling Ruth about the ring. Speculation: This call is to let Ruth know she has left her wedding ring inside the cup on her bedroom dresser and asks Ruth to keep it until she is able to pick it up.
Nov 24, 1963: Marina phones Ruth Paine again after Lee is murdered. She tells the Warren Commission on Feb 3, 1964 "I telephone Ruth to tell her that I wanted to take several things which I needed with me and asked her to prepare them. And that there was a wallet with money and Lee's ring." Speculation: she is not referring to Lee's ring at all since the only ring he had was a Marine Corp ring and it had been taken by police. She is referring to her own ring. This call is really to ask for the return of the rest of her belongings and for the return of her ring so it can be placed on Lee before burial. Ruth Paine testified that Robert Oswald came by at a later date for all Marina’s other belongings – but the ring and money were given to FBI agent Odum on this date.
Nov 25, 1963: Lee Oswald is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. Marina’s wedding and engagement rings are placed on Oswald’s little finger on the left hand. But it is by no means clear-cut as to who put the rings there. Historian William Manchester tells us that “the lid was raised. Forty reporters peered over the (police) officers' shoulders. Marina, who had been following TV and was learning about images, kissed her husband and put her ring on his finger." (The Death of a President by William Manchester, p 568). And from Dr. Vincent Di Maio, one of the autopsy team at the 1981 exhumation, we have “…Groody placed two rings on Oswald’s fingers. One was a gold wedding band and the other a smaller ring with a red gemstone that Oswald’s wife had requested he be buried with.” (Morgue: A Life in Death by Dr. Vincent Di Maio and Ron Franscell, p 106). Paul Groody was the undertaker who prepared the body for burial. Two entirely different versions. The only thing certain is that the rings were on Oswald when exhumed in 1981.
Nov 26 – Dec 1, 1963: Marina Oswald is subjected to intense interrogation by the FBI and Secret Service. (see especially, CE 1787) It is during this period that the story of Lee leaving his wedding ring on the bedroom dresser first emerges. This is typical of the Reid Technique. Isolate a witness, create a narrative incriminating the accused and use any and all manner of psychological tools to get the witness to “own” that narrative. The incrimination was implicit in the act because, claim the authorities, Lee knew his marriage was over and that he was not returning. He was instead, going to leave his mark on history. Speculation: The FBI and/or Secret Service built this part of the narrative based on finding out that Marina had left her own wedding ring at Ruth’s and had asked the FBI to pick it up for her so it could be placed on Lee’s finger at the funeral. All they had to do was act like the ring on the dresser was Lee’s and that the ring placed on Lee for the funeral was Marina’s, instead of it being the same ring - Marina’s ring in both cases. From here on, Lee’s (fictional) wedding ring would be the one it would be claimed he never took off (when this was actually his Marine Corp ring per Titovets). The last requirement would be to blur what happened to the (fictional) wedding ring. The fact of FBI Agent Odum picking up the “dresser ring” to give to Marina on Nov 24, 1963 was replaced with the Secret Service picking up the ring on Dec 2, 1963 for no stated reason whatsoever, before being returned to Marina on Dec 30, 1964. This in turn got changed to giving it to an unnamed lawyer who had been representing Marina. In the interim, Marina found herself needing to ad lib 101 stories about the ring to authors, journalists, official investigators and Grand Juries.
Dec 2, 1963: this is the day that the official time-line designates as the date that the Secret Service picks up the ring. An exhaustive search of records in the Mary Ferrell Foundation data base has failed to locate any evidence of this. It is, however, the day following the FBI and Secret Service interviews with Marina and is the day both agencies began serious investigations – largely based on the Marina Oswald interviews, as well as those of Ruth and Michael Paine, Buell Wesley Frazier and his sister Linnie Mae. Together, this group of witnesses provided, or agreed to, the dot points cobbled together to form the backbone of the case. The investigation was meant to add the flesh to this burgeoning false narrative.
By 2004, Ruth Paine's memory is a little fuzzy as she allegedly tells Hugh Aynesworth, that she may have given the ring to the Secret Service (Coming Full Circle by Hugh Aynesworth, Washington Times - Sep 1, 2004). It is much more likely however, that Aynesworth told her it was the Secret Service and she simply agreed it may have been. She does stick to the bit about it being done at Marina's request.
Dec 30, 1964: This is the day that the official timeline designates as the date that the Secret Service hands the ring over to Marina. According to a 2007 article- again by Aynesworth. This is supposedly based on a Secret Service document signed by Marina. To quote from the Aynesworth article, “the Secret Service had been given the ring, the memo said, on Dec. 2, 1963, by Ruth Paine, the Irving woman who had provided a home for Marina.” (Mystery Surrounds Lee Harvey Oswald’s Ring, Hugh Aynseworth, Dalla Morning News, Oct 27, 2007). Not explained is why it took from Dec 2, 1963 to Dec 30, 1964 to return the ring. Also not explained is what Marina is doing signing a Secret Service memo. It appears some of these issues finally dawned on those involved. In an article by Aynesworth written three years earlier on the same subject, there is no mention of any Secret Service document signed by Marina acknowledging the return of the ring. Now, in the official timeline, the only part left of these claims is the date. The alleged document signed by Marina acknowledging return of the ring on Dec 30, 1964 has disappeared and what we now have is " December 30, 1964: the Secret Service returns the ring to a Dallas lawyer..."
Oct 4, 1981: Lee Oswald’s body is exhumed through legal pleadings from author Michael Eddowes and Marina Oswald-Porter. Eddowes had written a book claiming the person buried was a Russian imposter, switched with Oswald while he was behind the Iron Curtain. Here we again run into differing versions of what transpired regarding the rings on Oswald’s fingers. In fact, there are even two different versions regarding Marina’s presence during the second autopsy. Dealing with the latter first, we have “Her [Marina’s] presence was unusual – most widows don’t attend their husbands’ exhumations and autopsies – but she didn’t seem to be shaken by the macabre nature of the moment.” (Morgue: A Life in Death by Dr. Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscel, p 115). Then we have this, from a contemporaneous news report: “The 40-year-old Mrs. Porter, who married a carpenter, Kenneth Porter, refused to view the remains but had trusted friends do it.” (Oswald’s Body Is Exhumed; An Autopsy Affirms Identity, New York Times, Oct 5, 1981, p 1).
To the first part concerning the ring(s), we have these versions: “Dr. Norton explained that examiners found two rings on Oswald – one a small wedding band, the other a ring with a small red stone in it. The rings were re-buried with him. That small ring was ‘too small even for his little finger [and] could not have been his,’ said Dr. Norton.” (Mystery Surrounds Lee Harvey Oswald’s Ring by Hugh Aynesworth, Dallas Morning News, Oct 27, 2007). Against that, there is this from Dr. Di Maio, “First, we removed the rings on the corpse’s finger and gave them to Marina… Back in the autopsy room, before Oswald’s new casket was closed and he went back into the damp earth of Rose Hill, a grateful Marina gave Dr. Norton an odd gift: the red gemstone ring we’d taken off the corpse’s pinky. It was her way of saying thanks for the team’s work. But Linda was visibly uncomfortable with this morbid reward. As soon as Marina left the room, she inconspicuously slipped it into my hand. She didn’t want it. Neither did I. As well-meaning as it might have been, it was a sordid souvenir of a grim task and an even grimmer history. I wished for the whole wretched mess to just be buried once and for all. So just before they sealed Lee Harvey Oswald’s coffin for his next eternity, I dropped the ring into the box with him and then drove home to San Antonio in the dark.” (Morgue: A Life in Death by Dr. Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscel, pp 114-122). What we see here is a key to the mystery. Marina was given both rings at the start of the 1981 autopsy. She later gives her engagement ring to Dr. Norton who does not want it and passes it to Dr Di Maio – who also does not want it and he drops it back in with the corpse. Marina kept her wedding ring. Since we now know she tried to give away her engagement ring, it is plausible that she did give the wedding ring to one of her lawyers – just as originally suspected by the law firm and by Perry. We know she had more than one lawyer looking after her interests during this 2nd autopsy because we have this from the same New York Times story as previously cited; “Mrs. Porter spent hours yesterday in meetings with lawyers in Dallas planning the event. She recalled the years of work leading to it.”
2004: The Markward Marina Oswald file is found. It is unclear as to the exact circumstances. This is what Aynesworth wrote in 2004, “Mr. Ellis said that Mr. Marquart had joined the firm in the late 1970s and just recently mentioned the materials in the firm's safe." Yet in 2007, Aynesworth was reporting that, "We (Brackett & Ellis law firm) have tried to get him to talk about the ring and his files, but he has refused... The firm had sent representatives to Mr. Marquart's home ‘on several occasions’ to determine how the ring came to be with his materials, ‘but he apparently doesn't remember,’ Mr. Ellis said.” Aynesworth goes on to say that “Marina Oswald used the services of Mr. Marquart shortly after the assassination to set up and manage a trust fund for her young daughters, June Lee, 2, and Rachel, 2 months…”
A note on the spelling on the lawyer’s name: Aynesworth and Perry seem to be the only people who spell the surname as “Marquart”. The fact is, he was buried under the name of Forrest Markward and was listed in the 1940 census under that name. The use by these historical hooligans of the same misspelling at best, speaks of cannibalizing each other’s work, or using the same incorrect source. It is also noteworthy that Aynesworth claims Markward was used by Marina to set up trusts for the two girls from all the money donated post-assassination, while Perry claims the work done by Markward was sorting out the book contracts with Priscilla McMillan and Harper & Row. The end result of all of this important legal work? According to Aynesworth. McMillan “never heard of Mr. Marquart and couldn't recall Marina discussing him during lengthy interviews with Marina in 1964.” And Marina “likewise has said she did not recall Mr. Marquart or what he might have done for her.” Meanwhile Markward was, as at 2004, over 90, suffering Alzheimer’s, didn’t want to discuss any of it and claimed no memory of any of it - all according to Luke Ellis. Yet we do know Markward did at the very least, meet with Marina (CD 372, p 12 shows Markward met with Marina and Louis Saunders in the office of John Thorne at 6:10 pm on Dec 23, 1963. The nature of the meeting is not noted).
July 2004: The ring is allegedly found by Dave Perry among the newly discovered files of Forrest Markward. This was stated in a 2014 History Channel show called “Lost History” and Perry himself confirmed it was true after the show aired – but again without revealing the circumstances of the find. In sum, we have Dave Perry finding a ring among files discovered in a law firm office, with said files belonging to an ex-partner in that firm and who it is claimed, did very important legal work for Marina in the 1963-64 period. The law firm itself, however, somehow missed seeing the ring among those files. The lawyer in question, Forrest Markward, had - or may have had - no memory of the files (reports on this are conflicting), nor of the ring and - neither Marina nor Priscilla McMillan recall Markward or what legal work he did for Marina. These are the circumstances that the Sixth Floor Museum rely upon to verify the authenticity of the ring. Perfect! Perfect that is, that the ring is not found until after it becomes known that the owner of the files has Alzheinmer's and golly gee, can't recall a gosh darn thing!
Perry claimed in his undated online article that "originally I believed the ring in the possession of Attorney Luke Ellis of Brackett & Ellis of Fort Worth, TX was the wedding ring removed by Dr. Norton. I thought a member of the firm, Attorney Forrest Marquart, had appeared with Marina at the exhumation autopsy." Perry eventually ditched this theory on the basis that Dr Norton claimed to have placed the ring back on Oswald’s corpse – thus Marina could not have given it to anyone. Let us deconstruct this. Firstly, Perry would have been well aware that the ring placed on Oswald at the original burial was Marina’s wedding ring. For Perry to consider the ring found in the files could be this very ring, it would have been obvious it was not a man-sized ring, but one to fit a petite female. If it had been a man-sized ring, he would not have considered this theory for a nanosecond. Secondly, on what basis did he think Markward had represented Marina at the 1981 autopsy? Since the ring was found with files of the work Markward had done for Marina, maybe those same files revealed this work as well as the work done in 1963-64? If so, that particular evidence would have been destroyed once the deception was mapped out.
Oct 2007: Luke Ellis tells Aynesworh that “We could file a lawsuit, get a judicial determination of ownership, but that's very time-consuming and nobody really wants to do it if you don't have to." Yet three years have already sailed by without any claimant to a ring which would eventually fetch over 100K at auction.
July 24, 2012: A letter from Luke Ellis informs Marina Oswald-Porter of the ring’s discovery in Markward’s files making it another five years - eight in total, without a determination, before the most logical owner is formerly notified of its existence – yet still no court has determined legal ownership.
Early 2013: Marina Oswald-Porter goes to Fort Worth and gets the ring back from Luke Ellis. It seems Marina’s word is good enough, despite the discrepancies and contradictions in her stories about the ring over the years being big enough to drive a truck through – and despite there being no paper trail for it, except a very dubious undated, unsigned receipt.
May 5, 2013: Marina Oswald-Porter writes a five-page letter for RR Auctions documenting the ring’s history. She advises that only a very small specific section of this document may be released to the public.
Oct 24, 2013: The ring sells at auction for $108,000 (as a 14karat gold ring, its intrinsic value would be in the vicinity of $80.00 to $120.00)
Oct 2015: The ring is acquired by the Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas, which had expressed interest in obtaining it since at least 2007.
CONCLUSIONS
I. Oswald did not buy himself a wedding ring
II. The ring left on the dresser was Marina’s and was not placed there until after her interview with Dallas police
III. After being taken into protective custody, Marina phoned Ruth Paine on Nov 23 to advise she had left the ring behind and asked her to look after it and the wallet until she could pick up the remainder of her belongings
IV. After Lee is murdered on Nov 24, Marina phones Ruth again and advises she needs the ring and will arrange for it to be picked up. The wallet and ring are picked up that day by FBI Agent Odum. Other belongings of Marina’s are picked up at a later date by Robert Oswald
V. Marina’s wedding and engagement rings are placed on Oswald’s left little finger by undertaker, Paul Groody in preparation for the burial service on Nov 25
VI. The rings are removed from Oswald by Dr Linda Norton on Oct 4, 1981 in preparation for a second autopsy. They are given to Marina who is present during the whole procedure
VII. After the autopsy, Marina gives the engagement ring as a gift to Dr Norton. Once Marina is out of sight, Dr. Norton gives the ring to Dr Di Maio who likewise does not want it and places it back in the casket. Marina still has her wedding ring
VIII. In July 2004, a ring is discovered among files pertaining to Marina. The files belong to a by now retired lawyer named Forrest Markward who had done legal work for Marina in the past. Markward has no memory of the ring due to Alzheimer’s. The finder of the ring, Dave Perry, initially assumes that the ring was payment for legal services during the second autopsy. We are not told what work and timeframes are covered in the legal papers, but if Markward was one of the lawyers who assisted Marina during the 2nd autopsy, it is possible she gave him the wedding ring because ( a ) we now know it did not go back into the casket and ( b ) we also now know that Marina gifted the engagement ring to the head autopsist, Dr. Norton
IX. The ring found in 2004 was Marina’s wedding ring, either placed in the files by Markward after being given the ring by Marina in 1981, or it was placed there by Dave Perry when he was called in to assess the legal documents. Though the former seems more likely, the receipt found with the ring is almost certainly a forgery to try and authenticate the original false narrative of the ring on the dresser as belonging to Oswald and that it was picked up from Ruth Paine by the Secret Service and not the FBI as Paine testified
X. The sale of the ring at auction was fraudulent as it was misrepresented as belonging to Lee Oswald, making it a valuable historical item. It follows from this that the Sixth Floor Museum is either a witting participant in this fraud or is another victim of it. It does fit the Sixth Floor Museum’s history of buttressing the false narrative initiated by Dallas Police and built upon by the FBI and Warren Commission to imply Oswald’s guilt
See also: https://www.thenewdisease.space/blog-1/the-wedding-ring-held-by-the-6th-floor-museum-was-not-lee-oswald-s-as-claimed