TSBD & Investigation

No Connection: Employees and Investigators

Tom Alyea Film

As seen in the above film by one of the witnesses to the assassination, the scene at the Texas School Book Depository was chaotic and crowded. Filled with reporters, employees, and police officers, the crime scene was difficult to maintain. 

This exhibit has discussed the important roles of five key figures at the Texas School Book Depository. Despite their importance, they were barely connected. 

A social network analysis based on the FBI files of each of these figures shows that there was no connection between the featured investigators and the witnesses:

Problems: 

The combined social network suggests many problematic conclusions about the investigation. Despite all five key persons being in the building at roughly the same time, there are two destinct groups: the investagators and the employees. 

Additionally, the TSBD employee group, although the most imortant witnesses at the scene of the crime, are not linked with the investigation other than by Oswald, the suspect. This forces the conclusion that the investigators did not properly interview these witness and thus could have missed crucial evidence. 

First, the employees groups shows how closely knit the group was, and how they generally all knew each other.

Second, the investigators group shows a loose knot connection. Det. Montgomery and Det. Studebaker are only connected with two links—despite being in the same department and same location during the investigation.  

Though the chaos may have been to blame, the lack of communication between the employees and the investigators may have contributed to the confusion on the scene and some missed information—such as the Dr. Pepper bottle and lunch sack that were later identified as belonging to Bonnie Ray Williams unknown to L. D. Montgomery or R. L Studebaker, the police officers who found and documented the bottle, respectively.

This disconnect is a serious problem for the investigation, and may have contributed to the confusion on the scene.