Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: An update on the BTK DNA investigation


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 211
Date:
An update on the BTK DNA investigation
Permalink Closed


This article has already been posted on Lucas Speers discussion board by Trish, but I would like to post it here as well for those who may not have seen it.

This is an article by Rene Romo of the Albuquerque Journal.


Lincoln Sheriff To Leave Office

By Rene Romo
Journal Southern Bureau

RUIDOSO— Next year if anyone is still trying to clarify whether Old West Sheriff Pat Garrett really did gun down Billy the Kid in 1881, the effort probably won't be led by a modern-day Lincoln County sheriff.

Current Sheriff Tom Sullivan, who along with De Baca County Sheriff Gary Graves is leading the Billy the Kid investigation, will leave office at the end of December after a two-term stint.

And most of the six Republican and one of the two Democratic candidates for the office say they don't plan to take up the investigation.

''I have no interest whatsoever in who killed Billy the Kid,'' said Ruidoso Police Chief Lanny Maddox at a forum Wednesday for GOP candidates seeking county offices. Drawing applause with his remarks, Maddox continued: ''I can assure you that Billy the Kid is dead and is no longer a threat to the people of Lincoln County.''

Sullivan's investigation, launched in early 2003 and embraced by Gov. Bill Richardson last June, aims to test claims by several men, who surfaced decades after the outlaw's death in Fort Sumner, saying they were really Billy the Kid.

One such story by the late Ollie P. ''Brushy'' Bill Roberts has been embraced by the town of Hico, Texas, where residents claim the outlaw lived out his days.
Sullivan has said he wants to get to the truth, because Roberts' story, if believed, means Garrett killed the wrong man and may have been complicit in the Kid's escape.

Sullivan and Graves have filed a petition to exhume the Kid's remains from a Fort Sumner grave, so they can compare the outlaw's DNA to that of his mother, buried in Silver City. The exhumation efforts have been fought by both Silver City and Fort Sumner.

Along with Maddox, four of the other five Republican candidates for Lincoln County sheriff said they did not intend to take up the investigation. Those candidates include Richard Alvarez, Lincoln County Undersheriff Rick Virden, Lincoln County Sheriff's Deputy Bobby Angermiller, and former Sheriff James McSwane.

''I think we've got plenty of other things to do,'' Virden said.

Democratic candidate David Hightower, assistant chief of the Ruidoso Downs Police Department, also said, ''I don't really have a lot of interest one way or the other on it. There are more current problems that need time and attention.''

Sullivan said the lack of interest by the sheriff candidates did not faze him— he plans to continue his investigation into the circumstances around the Kid's death on his own after his term in office expires. Sullivan said he has not spent any county funds or time on the case.

The only other Democratic candidate for sheriff, Kenneth D. Jones, could not be reached for comment.



__________________
~ Marcelle Brothers, Webmaster of About Billy the Kid & Forum Administrator ~


Newbie

Status: Offline
Posts: 5
Date:
Permalink Closed

It's unfortunate that the other articles written in the same issue of the Albuquerque Journal have not been posted here.  Perhaps the webmaster can access them and post them for additional update information.  Also of interest is the front page of the same Journal today, Monday the 26th of what sheriff Gary Wayne Graves is going through with the people that elected him.  This is looking better then the happenings before and after the Lincoln County War.


In Saturdays Journal there is an insert named the Entertainer"..it has some good information too.  "AFTER BILLY" is of course mentioned for viewing tonight on the History Channel,   I saw it and it is real good.  Hope everyone got to see it. 



__________________
Elbert A. Garcia


Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 65
Date:
Permalink Closed

I saw the History Channel program and thought it was great. But, I may have been misinformed, but didn't Billy's body wash away in a flood?


Plus, aren't Charlie Bowdrie and Tom O'Folliard buried along with him? Woundn't it be hard to determine who is who without a big debate?



__________________
"Duerme bien, Querido." -Sleep Well, Beloved-


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 211
Date:
Permalink Closed

It certainly would!

Due to flooding, vandalism, lack of maintenance and soldiers graves that were relocated, the cemetery was quite disorganized. Who knows where whoever was buried and who may have been accidentally relocated with the soldiers. Also, Billy’s gravesite (as well as others) were left unmarked for several years and it wasn’t until 1932 that a monument was finally put up in his memory. It’s doubtful that the monument is even in the right spot. So the idea of exhuming a questionable grave for DNA testing is ludicrous; even the state Office Medical Investigator came to that conclusion and turned the DNA job down.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the results will be inconclusive and only cause more debate. DNA didn’t resolve the Jesse James/Frank J. Dalton debate but only made it worse.


 
As for Billy’s buddies Tom and Charlie, supposedly they were buried side by side, but 25 ft away from Billy’s grave.



__________________
~ Marcelle Brothers, Webmaster of About Billy the Kid & Forum Administrator ~


Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 54
Date:
Permalink Closed

I can only add that I do believe the exhumation
of Jesse James did prove it was him and not the
imposter. Another reason this was done was
because Merramac Caverns have been making a fortune by using Jesse's name and saying he hid
out in the cavern. When I first went there I
sure believed it, but I did not know then that
we talking about the imposter. I think this case
has been put to rest. If I were a James descendent, I sure would not want people making
money off of my ancestor's name by claiming this
other person was Jesse who lived to be 100!

__________________


Veteran Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 68
Date:
Permalink Closed

As I understand it, the DNA tests done by James Starrs did not prove 100% that it was Jesse James in J. James grave.


 The remains they tried excavating were too far deterriorated to be able to extract DNA from them, so they resorted to digging at the location of his former grave at the family farm. What they found were strands of hair, POSSIBLY belonging to Jesse, and DNA was extracted from that. Problem with that is, it was a family farm, and the hairs found could have belonged to anyone in the family, and it was only assumed to be that of Jesse's hair. There is no undeniable proof that it was Jesse's hair.


DNA testing did not prove 100% that Jesse James is buried where he is supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I do believe Jesse was killed by Ford, and Dalton was indeed an imposter. However, James Starrs' (who's work is controversial at best) DNA testing did not provide the acceptable proof, what was acceptable was the examination of the skull and body where he found a bullet fragment and damage in Jesse's torso, damage he received I believe during the civil war, and the bullet hole in the skull, the bullet hole that Ford put in his head.


Another problem was that when the first attempt was made to exhume F. Dalton, they dug up the wrong grave, and they still had to pay for it...which left no money to exhume the correct grave. I think it was just recently (as recent as in that last couple of months)  that Dalton was finally exhumed.


What's gruesome about the Jesse James exhumation is that fragments of his remains were kept as souveneirs...absolutely unexceptable and unprofessional. I know if I were a part of Jesse James family, that would absolutely infurriate me.


 



__________________
Loretta


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 211
Date:
Permalink Closed

It hasn’t been put to rest. The Jesse James/Frank J. Dalton controversy (and any other phony that claimed to be Jesse James) is still going on, but now there’s a new chapter to the story: “The DNA Investigation was a Hoax.” I have corresponded with some of those people that believe Jesse was not killed by Ford and they all believe the DNA testing was fixed and inaccurate; their reasoning is they believe there was some monkey business going on behind the scenes and they don’t believe for a second that the results are correct. I also believe and have no doubts  that Jesse James died by a bullet from Robert Ford, but what I’m pointing out is that the DNA investigation did not end the James/Dalton controversy but only fueled the fire -Loretta has already given some good reasons above. So that is why I'm against the Billy the Kid DNA investigation,  because I don't want the same mess happening to Billy.


 



__________________
~ Marcelle Brothers, Webmaster of About Billy the Kid & Forum Administrator ~
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard