The final surviving police detective tasked with investigating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas has died Friday at 96 years previous.
Elmer L. “Sonny” Boyd died in Corsicana, Texas — about 50 miles from Dealey Plaza, the place Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy greater than 60 years in the past, The Sixth Ground Museum introduced in a Fb submit on Tuesday.
“Elmer was deeply concerned within the native Kennedy assassination investigation, looking the Texas Faculty Guide Depository for proof and later main Lee Harvey Oswald down the hallways of Dallas police headquarters,” the Museum shared.
“He was a real Southern gentleman and will likely be deeply missed. Our heartfelt condolences exit to the whole Boyd household.”
Born in Blooming Grove exterior of Dallas, Boyd joined the Dallas Police Division as a patrolman in Could 1952 and was later promoted to a murder and theft detective in October 1957.
Boyd was initially assigned to be a part of President Kennedy’s motorcade because it rolled by Dallas On Nov. 22, 1963.
Nonetheless, a last-minute change had him ready for the previous commander and chief at Commerce Mart — the situation JFK was supposed to fulfill for a luncheon on the fateful day, in line with the Corsicana Every day Solar.
“We had been instructed Kennedy was 5 minutes away from arrival, however then we acquired phrase he’d been in an accident,” Boyd instructed the outlet in 2017.
After phrase unfold that the president was shot, Boyd and his companion Richard Sims adopted Kennedy’s motorcade because it rushed to Parkland Hospital.
On arrival on the hospital, Boyd and different Dallas cops had been ordered to the Texas Faculty Guide Depository constructing at Dealey Plaza.
“They’d monitor of everybody however Lee Harvey Oswald. They’d an deal with in Irving, but it surely turned out to be Marina’s (his partner) deal with,” he defined.
Boyd was considered one of three males placed on guard on the sixth ground of the ebook depository after they discovered Officer J.D. Tippit — a Dallas patrolman killed by Oswald through the manhunt — had been shot.
“We acquired phrase to name the workplace … they usually mentioned they thought the one they wished was coming in — Oswald,” he recounted.
He and Sims would later be photographed escorting Oswald into Dallas to the police station.
The now historic {photograph} was dropped at Boyd’s consideration years after it was taken when a person from Eire despatched him a replica, in line with the outlet.
“He wished me to signal it and ship it again so he might put it up in his brother’s pub,” the previous Dallas detective defined.
Boyd would participate within the interrogations of the then-suspected murderer, explaining he sat in on about “75-80%” of all interviews with Oswald whereas he was in custody, he instructed The Sixth Ground Museum in 2007.
After working two nights in a row till 3 a.m., he mentioned he went to his mother-in-law’s home to get some relaxation.
Whereas watching TV together with his household on the morning of Nov. 24, Boyd and his household watched as Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby whereas being transferred to jail.
Boyd mentioned he acknowledged Ruby because the gunman straight away.
“Jack Ruby considered himself as an enormous gangster, however he was only a nightclub proprietor,” Boyd instructed the Corsicana Every day Solar.
“He wished to be the hero by killing Oswald, although he mentioned it was to spare Jackie (Kennedy) the trauma of getting to return again to Dallas for the trial.”
Boyd and his companion had been then known as again on obligation, the place they guarded Ruby following his arrest.
He believed Ruby might have by no means deliberate out the taking pictures because the switch time for Oswald had modified with out the general public being knowledgeable.
Later, through the investigation of Kennedy’s assassination, his identify and badge quantity had been on a Disturbing The Peace report involving Ruby and Oswald — who was utilizing an alias — that allegedly linked them collectively from October 1963 — one month earlier than the president was killed.
He defined the report disclosed a “Jr Rubenstein” (Ruby) and “Alek Hidell” (Oswald’s alis) stepping into an altercation at an condo, however no police motion was required, he instructed The Sixth Ground Museum.
That cost was added to the Warren Fee Report — the 888-page official authorities report that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy.
Two males from Washington then met with Boyd to debate the costs with the report in hand.
“They noticed it as proof that Ruby and Oswald knew one another earlier than the taking pictures,” he instructed Corsicana Every day Solar.
Boyd mentioned he’s not sure how his badge quantity ended up on the report involving Ruby and Oswald, but it surely was an official submitting sheet from the Dallas Police Division.
The Warren Report finally discovered that Ruby and Oswald by no means knew one another earlier than the JFK assassination.
Boyd left the Dallas Police Division in 1978 and labored for 11 extra years with the Euless Police Division till he retired in 1989.
He married his spouse, Yvonne Smith, in 1950, and the couple stayed collectively for 65 years till she died in 2015. They’d three daughters collectively.
In 2023, Boyd donated his firearms, cowboy hat, and {the handcuffs} used on Oswald after his arrest to The Sixth Ground Museum in Dallas.
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