In my last blog post I complained of all the less relevant decorations in JFK assassination media. George de Mohrenschildt and Oswald's time in the USSR get far too much attention.
Instead of engaging in the sexy speculation invoked by the mysterious bon vivant de Mohrenschildt or the Cold War spectacle of an American in Russia, I say it's time to treat JFK's murder like a murder.
1. Start with the crime scene
2. Start with an empty slate of suspects
3. Connect every piece of evidence from the crime scene with traits of the murderer(s)
Attached to this blog post is [my edited] laymen's version of steps in homicide profiling used by Dr Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, which you can find here.
No one in the JFK assassination research community likes this approach. They prefer to start with motive. This is great fun because so many interesting people allegedly have a motive to kill Kennedy. They also love to debate endlessly about Oswald, yet Oswald is almost universally NOT presented as the killer by assassination researchers. Why so much focus on the man who didn't do it?
The authors of the JFK assassination are pointed to by the evidence in Dealey Plaza
Don't start by asking who hated JFK. Don't start by going deep on Lee Harvey Oswald, the innocent bystander. Don't start by looking at events after November 22, 1963 such as the Warren Commission, political changes, or press coverage. Start with the crime scene.
I've highlighted in the attached article what I think is critical from Dr Schurman-Kauflin's primer on murder profiling: Money is rarely a factor in murder. Start with the crime scene. Understand that EVERY action or behavior at the crime scene reflects the personality of the murderer(s). Most importantly, start without any suspects whatsoever and go only where the crime scene evidence takes you.
I know I know, this isn't fun because there's no CIA, no Cold War intrigue, no mafia, and no political considerations. But where has the more typical motive-focused approach brought us after 50+ years? Nowhere!
I'm going to ask my website partner Paul Trejo to chime in at this point. He will agree or shoot me down, but I ask that Paul and all our readers consider these crime scene data points; what traits in the killer(s) do these points suggest?
>a moving target driving by in a convertible
>100s of witnesses, dozens of photographers
>murder by high powered rifle not at close range
>missed shots hitting the pavement, the car, the infield, or the wrong person
>extreme gore: JFK's brain matter exploding into the crowd and the street
>Dealey Plaza itself - what traits does a murderer have who would choose this location?
>the motorcade itself - what are the traits of its leaders and operational staff?
>Dallas - as compared to Washington, the UN, or other US cities like Tampa and Chicago....tells us what about the murderers?
There's lots more in the crime scene but I hope this makes my point and gets some of us off to a new start. In my opinion the cumulative evidence from this one snapshot of time and place points overwhelmingly to several traits of the killers that make our suspect list very small.