Chauncey Marvin Holt: Difference between revisions

'''Chauncey Marvin Holt''' (October 23, 1921—June 28, 1997) was an [[United States|American]] known for claiming to be one of the "[[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories#Three tramps|three tramps]]" photographed in [[Dealey Plaza]] shortly after the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of President John F. Kennedy]].<ref name="Alvord">{{cite news |title=Chauncey Holt; claimed inside scoop in JFK killing |author=Valerie Alvord |first=Valerie |last=Alvord |url=<!-- Official link here: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sandiego/access/1243502521.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&type=current&date=Jul+5%2C+1997&author=Valerie+Alvord&pub=The+San+Diego+Union+-+Tribune&edition=&startpage=B.7.1.6&desc=Chauncey+Holt%3B+claimed+inside+scoop+in+JFK+killing --><!-- Text copied here: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/38656008e072f432 --> |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |location=San Diego |date=July 5, 1997 |page=B.7.1.6}}</ref>

Holt was born in Kentucky.<ref name="Alvord"/> His family were [[circus]] performers and in his youth he [[tightrope walking|walked a tightrope]].<ref name="Alvord"/> Holt moved to [[San Diego County]] in the 1970s and lived in [[La Mesa, California]] during the last decade of his life.<ref name="Alvord"/> Holt died of cancer at the age of 75, eight days after completing final scenes for a documentary about his life, ''Spooks, Hoods and the Hidden Elite''.<ref>[http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=8250980122157253214 Source: Epilogue of ''Spooks, Hoods & The Hidden Elite'']</ref>

Holt is best known for his confession of involvement in the JFK assassination. He testified that he drove with mob hitmen [[Charles Nicoletti]] and [[Leo Moceri]] to [[Dallas]] from the Grace Ranch in [[Arizona]]. The ranch was owned by Peter Licavoli and allegedly served as a base for CIA operations, drugs and gun smuggling.<ref>[http://jfkmurdersolved.com/images/PLletter.jpg Note from Licavoli to Holt to stop by the Grace Ranch to pick up Charles Nicoletti and Leo "Lips" Moceri]</ref> Holt was also carrying forged secret service badges and lapel pins to Dallas, on orders of his CIA contact Philip Twombly. Holt delivered the lapel pins and badges to anti-[[Fidel Castro|Castro]] [[Cuba]]n exile Homer Echevarria. He also delivered handguns and ID's to [[Charles Harrelson]] on the parking lot of [[Dealey Plaza]] behind the grassy knoll. Harrelson, the father of actor [[Woody Harrelson]], was a convicted hitman, who died in 2007 while serving a prison sentence for the 1979 murder of federal judge [[John H. Wood, Jr.]]. Harrelson maintained on several occasions to have assassinated John F. Kennedy and to be one of the "Three Tramps" hiding in a box car on the railroad tracks behind Dealey Plaza just after the shooting. He denied these claims on other occasions.

After the assassination, Holt, Harrelson and Rogers were apprehended from a boxcar in the railroad yard and detained by the Dallas Police. They were released the same afternoon. While they were escorted over Dealey Plaza, seven pictures were taken by press photographers. These pictures became known in history as "the three tramps". Holt related that during the Warren Commission, he and other CIA operatives involved in the Kennedy assassination, stayed in a luxurious CIA safehouse in [[Acapulco]], owned by attorneys Frank Belcher and Joseph Ball. Joseph Ball served as senior counsel on the [[Warren Commission]].

==1991 interview with Chauncey Holt==

Chauncey Holt first came forward with his story in 1991 and, on October 19, was interviewed for ''[[Newsweek]]'' by JFK researchers John Craig, Phillip Rogers and Gary Shaw. The article was published in the December 23, 1991 issue.<ref>[http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=yyEY92tEA8Y Video fragment of 1991 interview with Chauncey Holt]</ref> Also, a number of local news channels in [[San Diego]] and Dallas did reports on Holt's story.<ref>[http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=29438109 News report on Holt's story]</ref> The 3 hour interview itself was never published at the time, however, a transcript of the interview was later published on the website of Dutch JFK assassination researcher Wim Dankbaar.<ref>[http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/holt1.htm Partial transcript of 1991 interview]</ref> Chauncey Holt himself submitted to the ''[[San Diego Union Tribune]]'' a critical reaction on their review of the book ''Case Closed'' by [[Gerald Posner]], who advocates that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] killed President Kennedy.<ref>[http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v3n2/v3n2holt.pdf Chauncey Holt's letter to the ''San Diego Tribune'']</ref>

==Controversy over Holt's story==

Holt's story was undermined in 1992 when the Dallas Police Department alleged that the three tramps were Gus Abrams, John F. Gedney and Harold Doyle. Ray and Mary LaFontaine carried out their own research into this claim. They traced Doyle and Gedney who confirmed they were two of the tramps. Gus Abrams was dead but his sister identified him as the third tramp in the photograph. Assassination researcher and Warren Commission apologist John McAdams reported the findings of this research on his website.<ref>[http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/3tramps.htm Article on the three tramps by John Mcadams]</ref> Other researchers like [[James Fetzer]], Lois Gibson and Wim Dankbaar point to the inconsistencies in this research and even suggest it was a deliberate attempt to discredit the story of Holt. Wim Dankbaar stated:

<blockquote>Chauncey's revelations were largely ignored by the mainstream media. The few media that did report on it, left it with a conclusion that cast doubts on his story. I could believe that Doyle, Gedney and Abrams were picked up from a train and taken into custody. So in that regard they may well have been telling the truth. I just don't believe they are the men in the tramp photographs. As Chauncey said, several individuals were picked up that day from the railroad yard.

<br />

The shadows in the photographs indicate a time around 2:30 PM or later. The shadows have moved two hours compared with the time of the shooting. This is consistent with Holt, who said they were hiding in the boxcar for 2 hours before they were found. It is not consistent with what Doyle and Gedney were telling. In the photographs you can also see that the crowds of people are gone, which is also indicating a time well after the assassination. All the documents and statements (also from the arresting officers) say that the arrests occurred very shortly after the assassination, within an hour, well before 1:30 PM. Read the interviews with the arresting officers.<ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5439/Susp_180-10112-10154.html&date=2009-10-25+06:53:08 FBI Document on arresting officer]</ref>

<br /><br />

The sun and shadows don't lie. It's just the law of the earth's rotation.

<br /><br />

Also, Doyle and the others said that they were picked up from an open flatbed coal car, known as a gondola, not a boxcar. This is in their FBI statements.<ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5439/Susp_124-10151-10221.html&date=2009-10-25+06:53:05 FBI interview with Harold Doyle]</ref>

<br /><br />

The man that is supposedly Harold Doyle looks to be much older than 32. This is also more consistent with what Holt is telling. Charles Rogers, aka Richard Montoya was 43 at the time. Two good acquaintances of Rogers identified him immediately from those photographs. One was an ex girlfriend that he dated, the other was Charles Rolland, manager of the Houston ice-skating rink where Rogers frequently used the pay-phone.</blockquote>

==Forensic expert Lois Gibson==

[http://www.loisgibson.com/biography.asp Lois Gibson] works for the Houston Police Department and is one the most respected forensic facial experts in the world{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}. She was recently awarded with a notation in the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] for the highest crime solving rate based on composite sketches{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}. Lois Gibson has made a comparison study of the "three tramps", photographed in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. She concluded that the three men were Chauncey Holt, Charles Harrelson and Charles Rogers. The [http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=5603081296111515946 video presentation] of her analysis can be found on the Internet.

==Notes==

==References==

{{More footnotes|date=March 2012}}

*[http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=yyEY92tEA8Y Video fragment of 1991 interview]

*[http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/holt1.htm Partial transcript of 1991 interview]

*[http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=5603081296111515946 Presentation of Lois Gibson on Google video]

*[http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/lois1.htm Transcript and slides of Lois Gibson presentation]

*[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKholt.htm Biography of Chauncey Holt]

*[http://www.newsweek.com/id/124022/output/print Newsweek article on Chauncey Holt]

*[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/5439/Documents.html&date=2009-10-25+06:53:01 A web page with documents about the Three Tramps]

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME = Holt, Chauncey Marvin

| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION =

| DATE OF BIRTH = 1921

| PLACE OF BIRTH =

| DATE OF DEATH = 1997

| PLACE OF DEATH =

}}

[[Category:Contractees of the Central Intelligence Agency]]

[[Category:People associated with the John F. Kennedy assassination]]

[[Category:American painters]]

[[Category:People from Kentucky]]

[[Category:Deaths from cancer]]

[[nl:Chauncey Holt]]