Image of Helen Markham at Dallas Police Department Headquarters

It is not clear which Dallas Morning News photographer took this image. Jack Beers, Tom Dillard and Bill Winfrey are the photographers who were present when the photograph was taken. It could have been any of them. - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager

Despite being a key witness to the shooting of Officer J.D. Tippit, who later identified Lee Harvey Oswald in a police lineup, Helen Markham remains a problematic eyewitness for many researchers. Errors in her testimony include her memory of speaking with Officer Tippit, despite the fact that Tippit likely died instantly and no other bystanders recalled any signs of life, and her claim that she was on her own with the slain officer for approximately twenty minutes even though an ambulance arrived within ten minutes of the shooting and other witnesses were almost immediately with her at the scene.  Attorney Mark Lane, who later authored Rush to Judgment (1966), testified to the Warren Commission in 1964 that he had interviewed Mrs. Markham and that she described the Tippit shooter as short and slighty hefty with somewhat bushy hair. After Mrs. Markham denied speaking to Mark Lane, Lane turned over to the Warren Commission an audio tape of his conversation with Mrs. Markham. Researchers point out that Mrs. Markham only identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the shooter after she had seen his photograph on television. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator