A lawsuit has emerged alleging that the U.S. government has concealed a crucial home movie that could possibly unravel the mystery surrounding President John F. Kennedy's assassination. This 60-year-old footage is suggested to potentially prove the existence of multiple shooters rather than the solitary gunman theory.
The descendants of Orville Nix, a Dallas maintenance worker who captured Kennedy's fatal moment on his personal camera, have been relentlessly pursuing the return of the original film from federal control. Jefferson Morley, author of "The Ghost" and several other CIA-focused books, believes that with current advancements in digital imaging, this film could essentially serve as a fresh piece of evidence.
Nix's footage provides the only unrestricted perspective of the notorious "grassy knoll" at the time of the lethal shot. This area is suggested by some theorists to have concealed additional shooters.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations last inspected Nix's original film in 1978, and based on the analysis, it deduced that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" involving "two gunmen." However, the technology then was insufficient to confirm if the supposed marksmen were depicted in Nix's film.
Nearly half a century later, advanced computer-aided analysis of the original footage could finally settle this mystery. Motivated by this potential breakthrough, the Nix family has reinitiated legal proceedings following the dismissal of their 2015 lawsuit due to jurisdictional issues.
The recently filed suit in the US Court of Federal Claims meticulously documents the journey of the original film since its creation. After Nix's death in 1972, the rights transferred to his wife and son. The lawsuit alleges gross mismanagement of this invaluable piece of American history by the government and accuses officials at the National Archives and Records Administration of dishonesty concerning the original film's possession.
The case presents freshly discovered evidence that the original film was handed over to NARA in 1978 by the HSCA's photo analysts. The Nix family seeks a hefty compensation of $29.7 million along with the release of the film.
However, time is ticking, warns Kenneth Castleman, a distinguished photo expert and former NASA senior scientist. Emphasizing the deteriorating condition of the Nix film, Castleman suggested the urgent need for modern image processing. "Working directly from the original might reveal data that is not visible on the copies," he said.
The lawsuit source states that the Kennedy assassination remains a painful episode in American history, and the film could finally validate or invalidate the official conclusion.