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"Consent to Exhume and Autopsy" form signed by Marina Oswald Porter
"Consent to Exhume and Autopsy" form signed by Marina Oswald Porter

"Consent to Exhume and Autopsy" form signed by Marina Oswald Porter

Object number2013.083.0002
Date08/08/1980
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
Description"Consent to Exhume and Autopsy" form signed by Marina Oswald Porter, dated August 8, 1980. The typed document authorizes Dr. Charles S. Petty, Chief Dallas County Medical Examiner, to exhume and autopsy the body of Lee Harvey Oswald, buried in Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas. Handwritten in blue ink are three signatures with dates, and a brief note. The note reads: "Mr. Michael Eddowes is to assume all financial obligation incurred in connection with the exhumation and autopsy of the body of Lee Harvey Oswald. [signature and initials] [?] Michael H.B. Eddowes"
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