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Notarized authorization to exhume and autopsy the body of Lee Harvey Oswald
Notarized authorization to exhume and autopsy the body of Lee Harvey Oswald

Notarized authorization to exhume and autopsy the body of Lee Harvey Oswald

Object number2013.083.0001
Date08/14/1980
ClassificationsDocuments
Creator Dallas County Medical Examiner
ObjectDocument
Credit LineDallas County Medical Examiner Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions14 × 8 1/2 in. (35.6 × 21.6 cm)
Collections
DescriptionNotarized authorization from the Dallas County Medical Examiner Office, dated August 14, 1980, to exhume and autopsy the body of Lee Harvey Oswald, buried in Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas. The form is authorized and signed by Dr. Charles S. Petty, Chief Dallas County Medical Examiner, to direct Paul J. Groody, undertaker for Oswald's funeral, to disinter the body. Handwritten in black ink are the signatures of Dr. Petty and the notary public, and the dates. Near the notary public's signature is an embossed notary stamp.
Curatorial Commentary
The controversial 1981 exhumation of Lee Harvey Oswald was done at the behest of British lawyer and author Michael Eddowes, who theorized that a Soviet imposter took Oswald's place while in Russia and subsequently returned to the United States where he assassinated President Kennedy and, after being shot by Jack Ruby, was buried at Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth. Tests on the decomposed remains proved, however, that it was indeed Lee Harvey Oswald. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator