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Who Killed Officer J.D. Tippit?

by Richard Mayn Hooke

May 11, 2012

So if Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill J.D. Tippit, who did? And how did it happen? There have

been thousands of different accounts written attempting to explain the baffling murder of Dallas

Police Officer J.D. Tippit. Historical accounts, by humans, are inherently flawed because we

cannot recreate a past event, exactly, at this point in time, so I am going to utilize a particular

technique I have found useful. If you can accept a fact, that is likely to be true, near the core of

an event; like a mountain climber hammering in a piton, to gain purchase, and then carefully

build on that, from the core truth, with other ergo truths, you can create a small historic picture,

buried within an extremely complex event; that otherwise would fall apart; fragment, in a myriad

of conflicting minutia; the traditional, start to finish, ‘complete’, yet, inevitably flawed approach. I

am not going to spend as much time speculating, as other JFK theorists have, on how the

participants got to, and from, the crime scene. The main issues being: Who did it? And, how

was it done?

I have decided to accept some statements from the confession of James E. Files, who claims to

have fired the final, and fatal, shot on November 22, 1963, from behind the picket fence on the

grassy knoll. James Files made his videotaped confession, in 1994, at the Illinois State

Penitentiary, in Joliet, Illinois. He was guaranteed immunity, by the U.S. Government, from

prosecution for the murder of John F. Kennedy. It’s all in Files on JFK, compiled by Wim

Dankbaar, along with a goldmine of other information on crimes James Files was involved in,

and had knowledge of, throughout his life as a U.S. Army soldier (82nd Airborne), career

criminal, Mafia hit-man, and CIA operative.

In his 1994 confession, Files stated he knew who killed Officer Tippit, it was not Lee Harvey

Oswald, and that Tippit’s killer was still alive at that time (1994). Files was reluctant to explain

any more about the Tippit murder, but Files did say,

“the man that killed a police officer that afternoon had come by my motel and told me…he said

that things got messed up today he said and I killed a cop…and my remarks to that was

well you did what you had to do and he left shortly thereafter…the person that I am referring to

now was not part of the team to assassinate JFK…as far as I know his job would have been

to kill Lee Harvey Oswald…”1

That is all Files would say, in 1994, about the Tippit murder. Files’ reluctance to talk about Tippit

and the way he explained what he knew of Tippit’s murder; a gradual, cohesive, explanation,

divulged over many years, is what leads me to accept what he has told us, of J.D. Tippit’s

murder, as probably being true. What Files said in 1994, although brief, was significant: Lee

1 Files on JFK, Dankbaar, 2007-8, p. 53


Richard Mayn Hooke 2

Harvey Oswald did not kill Tippit, it was not planned, and the man who killed Tippit, was actually

supposed to have killed Oswald.

In 2003, once again from the Illinois State Pen, James Files did a video-taped interview with Jim

Marrs and Wim Dankbaar. The interview was extensive, went over all the details of JFK, and

finally, Marrs, almost as an afterthought, says,

“What can you tell me about about the death of J.D. Tippit?”

And then Files finally decided to open up; to explain what happened to Officer J.D. Tippit2. He

said Lee Harvey Oswald was ordered, by his CIA controller (David Atlee Phillips), to show

James Files (actually his name was James Sutton at the time; he changed it to ‘Files’ after the

assassination) around Dallas the week prior to the assassination. Oswald and Files calibrated

the scopes, and test fired a trunk full of weapons that Files brought down from Chicago, in

Chuckie Nicoletti’s burgundy Chevrolet. Friday morning, November 22, 1963, Files told Nicoletti

he was worried that Lee Harvey Oswald would be a link back to them once they had killed JFK.

Nicoletti told Files not to worry, that he would have ‘the boss’ (Sam Giancana) take care of it.

Files said Giancana sent a hit-man, through CIA coordinator David Atlee Phillips, to Oak Cliff, to

kill Lee Oswald; ‘to silence Oswald at that point in the game’. Oswald, for whatever reason,

deviated from the original plan to get a ride from J.D. Tippit, and Rock White, to Redbird Airfield.

Instead, Oswald went straight to the Texas Theater. Tippit drove around Oak Cliff, looking for

Oswald, and pulled over, at 10th and Patton, next to the hit-man (thinking it was Oswald). Tippit

tried to make the hit-man get in the car so the hit-man shot Tippit three times to the body, over

the hood of Tippit’s police car. Then, James Files did not know this, but Tippit was shot one

more time, from a different angle, in the right temple, with a different type bullet.

James Files said the hit-man came by his room at the Lamplighter Inn, in Mesquite, Texas,

later that afternoon (11/22/63) and the hit-man said, “things got messed up, I had to kill a

cop.” At this point, we can draw some inferences; that help clear away a lot of misleading

information on the Tippit killing:

1) The Tippit killing was not planned; it was not a premeditated murder of a ‘bluecoat’;

although it did turn out to be convenient, to frame Oswald as a cop killer.

2) Tippit was not supposed to kill Oswald; if he was, David Atlee Phillips would have known

that, and so he would not have sent a hit-man to do it. The original plan was for Tippit

and White to take Oswald to Redbird Airfield, where a plane was ready to fly him out.

3) The ‘Tippit for body parts’ theory is wrong because this was an on-site, screw-up.

4) The CIA hit-man, sent to kill Oswald, shot J.D. Tippit (because Tippit mistook the hit-man

for Oswald); it was not Ozzie that shot Tippit, as some theories have maintained.

5) Roscoe White did not fire the first three shots over the hood, into Tippit, because Tippit

would never have mistaken White for Oswald; Roscoe White does not match the

description of the guy talking to Tippit through the passenger side window of Tippit’s

police car.

2 Files on JFK, Dankbaar, 2007-2008, p. 204-207



My explanation is that Dallas Policeman, and CIA operative, Roscoe White was also on hand, at

10th and Patton. It was White’s responsibility to verify that Oswald was picked-up and taken to

Redbird Airfield. Roscoe White was either slouched down, behind the seat, in Tippit’s police car,

or had driven there in another vehicle. White, almost completely bald, was wearing a black

bushy toupee, that he was known to wear, and a long coat; his police shirt was very likely the

shirt seen hanging in the backseat of Tippit’s car (see photo above). Tippit was shot one final

time, with a different type bullet, in the head; a coup de grace shot, into his temple, after he was

down. Once Tippit was shot, CIA operative Roscoe White considered it necessary to make sure

Tippet was dead, to silence him, so that he could not give a deathbed confession of what he

knew about the conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy, and that Roscoe White had shot JFK in the

neck and head (White thought his second shot, from the knoll, was the fatal one).

Witness Acquilla Clemons, advised by the Dallas Police not to repeat to the Warren

Commission what she told them, described two men at the scene of Tippit’s murder: one tall

and thin, wearing khaki trousers, and a white shirt, and another, kind of a short guy, kind of

heavy.

Witness Helen Markham, in a phone interview with author Mark Lane, said the killer was short,

kind of on the heavy side, with slightly bushy hair. In front of the Warren Commission, Mrs.

Markham denied this interview, but it was recorded. The Warren Commission said Mrs.

Markham told a police officer, named J.M. Poe, the man was white, about 25 years old, 5’8” tall,

with brown hair, wearing a white jacket. Mrs. Markham gave another description to FBI agent

Odum of a white man, about 18, black hair, red complexion, wearing tan shoes, tan jacket, and

dark trousers.

Witness Jack Tatum was driving east on 10th St. as he approached the squad car he noticed a

young white male with both hands in his pockets of his white, zippered jacket; over what looked

like a white t-shirt, leaning over the passenger side of the squad car, talking to Tippit, over in the

driver’s seat. Tatum said the man had dark hair, dark eyes, medium build, and was around

5’10”. When Tatum heard shots, he stopped his car, and saw Tippit lying on the ground. He saw

a man walk around the rear of the police car, turn and walk along the driver’s side to where

Tippit had fallen. The man then shot Tippit in the head. Tatum said, “whoever shot Tippit was

determined that he shouldn’t live and he was determined to finish the job.”



Gary Marlow and Roscoe White Killed J.D. Tippit

James Files said he knew the hit-man that shot J.D.Tippit but would not give up his name. Files

did confess, however, that he is in a photo with this man (see tall man with sun glasses in photo

below). It just so happens that James Files ex brother in law, Gary Eugene Marlow3, is a dead

ringer for the man in the photo; as you can see by cutting up, and comparing the ear, nose,

chin, and forehead lines in the photos below. The man who shot Officer J.D. Tippit three times,

over the hood of Tippit’s police car, was CIA hit-man Gary Marlow; James Files ex-brother in

law; who died in 2007.

Gary Marlow and James Files

The final, coup de grace shot, into the right temple of J.D. Tippit, was fired by Roscoe White.

At this point I would like to refer you to the Badge Man photo (see below). The Badge Man

photo was extracted, by Gary Mack in 1982, from a photo taken by assassination witness Mary

Moorman, and then enhanced through photo techniques, by Jack White. I would like you to look

at the Badge man’s assistant, in the following photo (below, center). His V-shaped hairline (this

hairline is a dead giveaway of Tippit; I am not buying the myth that this was a construction

hardhat; hair receding on either side, his height, long face, neck, and gradual shoulder slope

3 Interview With History, Pamela J. Ray, 2009, p.242



(exactly like Tippit). Also, their heights are accurate, builds correct, and Gordon Arnold (Army

man in front; holding camera to his face) is in front of White, who is in front of Tippit (which

would be accurate), and Arnold said the policeman was not wearing a hat. White’s muzzle flash,

aiming position, uniform, and toupee are all consistent with a right handed rifleman (exactly like

Roscoe White). Arnold’s body type, uniform, and other versions of the photo have revealed his

mother’s camera held up to his face (all consistent with Gordon Arnold’s account). You know, I

took some higher mathematics… what are the odds that these photos look as they do, and then

the same pair (White and Tippit), are involved in the next killing, up the road, just 45 minutes

later…pretty good, I would think. You think this is a configuration of light? Not me, I think the

Badge Man photo has White and Tippit written all over it; I think Roscoe White was the Badge

man, and his assistant was J.D. Tippit.

Roscoe White had just finished shooting the President, at 12:30 PM, and Tippit was right there

with him. Having just participated in, and fled, the assassination, would explain why, once Tippit

was gravely injured, White could not risk Tippit spilling the beans, that White had killed JFK, on

his death bed, so Roscoe White put the final bullet into J.D. Tippet’s head. Roscoe White did not

know about James Files and the other shooters of JFK because he was on a ‘need to know’

basis, and, as he confessed in his diary, he was convinced he had killed JFK with the two shots

he fired from Badge Man position, behind the picket fence: White’s first shot into JFK’s neck,

and his second shot to the right front of JFK’s head; that actually may have been a partial hit,

ended up in the grass. To Roscoe White, though, it appeared to be a hit because James File’s

hit on JFK, above his right temple, as Roscoe Whites second shot went through, and into the

grass, exploded JFK’s head back and to the left; the same direction a hit from Roscoe White

would have caused; albeit without the frangible mercury explosion.



Roscoe White joined the Dallas Police Force in September of 1963. Soon after that, his wife,

Geneva, said she overheard her husband and Jack Ruby plotting the assassination of JFK. He

had at least ten, offshore, assassination kills (Philippines and Japan). What do people think they

brought him in there for, the parade? White was seen in the area of the pergola, just before the

shooting, on November 22, 1963, and Tippit was seen leaving the scene, behind the TSBD,

right after the shooting. As I said before, White was a heavily muscled man, who wore a black

bushy toupee; which fits the description of the other man, at 10th and Patton, who fired the final

shot into J.D. Tippit’s head. Why would someone fire a coup de grace shot into J.D. Tippit?

Why? He was just a regular cop, reportedly of low intelligence; and that was their big mistake,

they never should have included Tippit in the plan. J.D. Tippit told his son, the morning of the

assassination, “No matter what happens today, I love you.”

To those who say Tippit was the Badge Man: they never would have trusted Tippit to be a

shooter. He was of medium, to low intelligence; just a regular guy. A normal person could never

have handled the pressure; it had to be someone who had killed many times before. They knew

Roscoe White could, and would, successfully execute the shot. And when Tippit was down,

White had no qualms about putting him out; could Tippit have done that to White; I do not

believe so.

Julia Ann Mercer saw Jack Ruby deliver a rifle to the grassy knoll, out of a green pick-up, at 11

AM. Who used this rifle? Ruby would not have delivered it to the grassy knoll if it was not to be

used from somewhere near the knoll. Jack Ruby delivered the 7.65 Mauser that Roscoe White

used to shoot JFK. Why do you think Ruby was so worried about having alibis that placed him

away from the plaza; placing an advertisement in the newspaper, etc.? As far as Ruby knew, he

had delivered the very rifle that blew JFK’s head off.

Why were faux Secret Service Agents given fake ID (delivered by Chauncey Holt) to keep

people back from the knoll? James Files said he was brought in that final morning, because



Johnny Roselli backed out; but the fake ID’s were in the works days before that; there had to be

another shooter on the knoll they were keeping people back from; to facilitate his escape.

Roscoe White said that he was in Badge Man position in his diary that was found by his son,

Ricky White, in a Naval storage drum, in Paris, Texas, in 1982. In the diary, that was

confiscated and never returned by the FBI, White explained that he shot JFK in the neck, and

head, and then had to kill J.D.Tippit. White said Tippit messed up the Oswald pick-up at 10th

and Patton, in Oak Cliff. White also tells of how he jumped the picket fence and confiscated the

film from ‘a military man’ (Gordon Arnold) right after he fired his second shot at JFK. Gordon

Arnold’s testimony, of how a man in a police uniform took his film, in my opinion, is too odd not

to be true. Arnold high-tailed his ass out of there like 99 out of 100 American’s would have done.

Gordon Arnold said the policeman, that took his film, was crying and that may have been

Roscoe White. His wife, Geneva, had said to him, as they were lying in bed the night before,

“How can you do it? He (JFK) has two kids just like you?” To which, Rock White answered,

“Honey, it’s like war. The president is a national security threat. If I don’t do it, we’ll be in a

nuclear war very soon. Honey, matters were taken out of our hands a long time ago.”

By many accounts, Roscoe White, was a good man who was ordered to do some terrible things

for our government. He was the president of his high school class. His life was a tragedy; a

good man gone over to the dark side; whose feelings surfaced as he carried out his orders: to

kill his own President, John F. Kennedy. When Rock White was given an order, he got it

done; of course, that’s why the CIA brought him to Dallas.