Recently, the Discovery Channel has put together a team of experts that undertook the task of recreating the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The advancement in technology allowed them to come up with more accurate results as to how the event took place, and pinpoint more exactly the place the shots came from. The techniques used during the process were the latest in synthetic human body mock-ups, blood spatter analysis and 3D computer simulations, corroborated with known data from the assassination place and day.

 

As a short reminder, on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 pm Central time, the 35th president of the US, John F. Kennedy, was shot twice in his limousine, in Dallas, Texas. The first shot entered his back and exited through his throat, while the second entered the left side of his head to exit through the right side, spattering an officer and the car's interior with bodily material. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but was himself shot to death by Jack Ruby before he could be convicted.

 

Since there are a lot of conspiracy theories on the subject, the recreation of the event was aimed at providing more accurate facts and at reducing the number of speculations. In this regard, a mock-up of the whole scene, based on data as precise as possible, was installed, including a car, Kennedy's artificial mock-up, the depository, and even the small hill. The forensics experts that analyzed the scene of the “crime” after sharpshooters shot the mock-ups didn't even know what the purpose of the experiment was.

 

The head was made by Adelaide T&E Systems from 3 materials – one accurately imitating the skull properties, another successfully imitating the skin, while the third was for the brain, made from a green-dyed pigskin-based gelatin. Using a hat that belonged to Kennedy, the precise measurements of the head were respected. Also, data regarding the wind direction and velocity, exact distances and positioning of the surrounding buildings of the day of the tragic event were collected and used.

 

The famous movie of the assassination, made by Abraham Zapruder, was also used to obtain 3D images of the blood spatters and other precious data. The overall conclusion was that, although there would never be a definite certainty that Oswald did actually pull the trigger, the most likely location the shot came from was the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository.