The Implausible Suicide
Of Vincent Foster
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About
This Snippet
The Foster autopsy
report and descriptions of the placement of the gun and wound path from
the official record allow a reconstruction of the trajectory of the bullet
which is supposed to have passed through Foster's head.
The resulting trajectory
is impossible, as it would have required Foster to open his mouth significantly
more than is physically possible to accommodate the gun.
This impossible trajectory
shows that the Foster autopsy cannot be trusted. |
Dr. James Beyer's Description
Of The Gun Location and The Wounds
Dr. James Beyer was the
doctor who performed the Foster autopsy. According to Dr. Beyer .
. .
-
The gun was close to the
back of the throat when it was fired,
-
There was good alignment
between the entrance and exit wounds,
-
The entrance wound was
in the back of the throat, in an area called the 'posterior oropharnyx',
-
The exit wound was in
the center of the back of the head, three (3) inches below the top of the
head.
An
Impossible Wound Path
The wound path described
by Dr. Beyer is impossible, as it would have required Foster to open his
mouth significantly more than is physically possible to accommodate the
gun (documentation for Dr. Beyer's description of the wound path is provided
at the end of this page).
The following figures
illustrate.
(click
on image for larger view)
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This figure consists of
an anatomic diagram showing the cross section of a human head and the drawing
from page 6 of the Foster autopsy report. The drawing from page 6
of the autopsy report has been scaled to the size of the anatomical drawing
and aligned with it.
The black rectangle
at the back of the skull in the anatomic diagram represents the location
of the exit wound shown on page 6 of the autopsy report. This location
on the anatomic diagram was obtained by projecting the exit wound shown
on page 6 onto the anatomic diagram.
The black rectangle
at the back of the throat outlines the posterior oropharnyx which is the
area of the back of the throat bounded by the uvula on the top and the
epiglottis on the bottom.
(click
on image for larger view)
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Since Dr. Beyer said that
"there was good alignment between the entrance and exit wounds", we can
assume that the bullet progressed in a straight line through the skull.
This allows us to approximate
the wound path by connecting a point on the posterior oropharnyx with a
point on the exit wound at the back of the head. The bullet would have
followed this trajectory as it progressed through the skull.
(click
on image for larger view)
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In this figure, an
image of the gun found with Foster has been scaled relative to the
three inch measurement from the crown of the skull to the top of the exit
wound depicted in the drawing on page
6 of the autopsy report. The gun barrel was then aligned with
the wound path and placed "close to the back of the throat" as per Dr.
Beyer's description in the Starr report. The jaw was then rotated
to accommodate the gun.
As you can clearly
see, this gun placement is impossible as it would have required Foster
to open his mouth significantly more than is physically possible to accommodate
the gun.
Checking
Our Work
Beyer described three wounds to
Foster's head:
-
Entrance wound in the posterior
oropharnyx, 7 1/2 inches below the head,
-
Entrance to the cranial cavity
just left of the foramen magnum and . . .
-
Exit from the head at a point
3 inches below the crown),
This allows us to check the wound
path by reconstructing it using using a different set of wounds.
Specifically, the wound path above was reconstructed by connecting the
entrance
wound with the exit wound; connecting the wound
next to the foramen magnum with the exit wound will
provide a comparison with the first reconstruction.
The figures below illustrate
the result; as can be seen, both wound paths are in fairly close agreement
- - and both are impossible.
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Wound
Path Reconstruction #1
This wound path was constructed
by connecting
entrance wound with the exit wound.
The entrance wound location
was estimated using anatomic description ("entrance
wound is in the posterior oropharnyx ")
The exit wound location was
estimated by projecting wound location from page 6 of the autopsy report
onto anatomic image |
Wound
Path Reconstruction #2
This wound path was constructed
by connecting
wound next to foramen magnum
with the exit wound.
The location
of wound next to foramen magnum was estimated by projection from page 4
of autopsy report onto image of skull.
The exit
wound location was determined by scaling to Foster's skull.
Click
here for detailed description of the methodlology used to construct this
wound path. |
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The
Front View Of The Impossible Trajectory
Based on Dr. Beyer's
autopsy report we can obtain the front view of the trajectory of the bullet
through Foster's head.
(click
on image for larger view)
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In this figure, the drawing
from page 6 of the autopsy report showing the front of the face has been
placed to the left of the anatomic diagram and sized and aligned with the
anatomic diagram.
The drawing from page
4 of the autopsy report, depicting the wound next to the foramen magnum
(indicated by the 'circled x' symbol) has been placed directly below the
anatomic diagram and scaled and aligned with the diagram.
The front view of
the trajectory was obtained by:
-
Projecting the wound on
the back of the head to the image of the front of the head
-
projecting the wound next
to the foramen magnum to the image of the front of the head,
-
connecting the projected
points
Based on Dr. Beyer's autopsy
report we see that the frontal view of the trajectory passes through the
left side of the mouth.
Thus, according to
the official trajectory Foster did not insert the gun in the center of
his mouth as one might expect, but instead inserted it in the far left
side of his mouth -- for reasons unexplained.
The Grip
Foster's
grip, according to the official record
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According to the official
record, Foster is supposed to have wrapped both hands around the cylinder
of the gun, stuck his thumb through the trigger guard, then fired the gun
by pressing backward on the trigger; from the Starr report at page 61 &
62:
Dr.
Blackbourne concluded that Mr. Foster "fired
the gun with the muzzle in his mouth, his right thumb pulling the trigger
and supporting the gun with both hands with both index fingers relatively
close to the cylinder gap (the space between the cylinder and the barrel)."[179]
Dr. Blackbourne determined
that Foster held the gun in this manner from the gunpowder residue found
on both of Foster's index fingers and reported in the autopsy report (emphasis
added):
.
. . Dr. Blackbourne stated that "[w]hen a revolver is fired, smoke issues
out of the space between the cylinder and the barrel. This smoke
will be deposited on skin, clothing or other objects close to the cylinder
gap. The autopsy report documents that smoke
deposits were noted on the radial aspect of both right and left index fingers.
Dr. Beyer told me that there was more deposit on the right as compared
to the left index fingers."[182]
Foster's Last Seconds
On Earth: The Official Story
An image of Foster's last
seconds on earth can be deduced from the official record; an extremely
implausible image wherein . . .
-
Foster wrapped both hands
around the cylinder of the gun (for no apparent reason ),
-
Opened his mouth in a
gaping yawn of some 2.6 inches (for no apparent reason -- if even possible),
-
Inserted the gun
in the far left corner of this mouth (for no apparent reason)
-
... then shot himself
because he was depressed over what the the Wall Street Journal editorial
writers had said about him.
The image below is a (poorly
drawn) rendition of this story:
Dr.
James Beyer's Description Of The Gun Location and The Wounds, Per The Official
Record
Dr. James Beyer was the
doctor who performed the Foster autopsy. According to the official
record, Dr. Beyer said . . .
-
The entrance wound was
in the back of the throat, in an area called the 'posterior oropharnyx',
-
The bullet entered the
cranial vault by penetrating the skull next to the foramen mangum.
-
The exit wound was in
the center of the back of the head, three (3) inches below the top of the
head.
-
The gun was close to the
back of the throat when it was fired,
-
There was good alignment
between the entrance and exit wounds,
1. The entrance
wound was in the back of the throat
The posterior
oropharynx is the back of the throat, bounded by the uvula on the top and
the epiglottis on the bottom. If you open your mouth and look in
a mirror, you can see your posterior oropharynx.
In his autopsy report
for Foster, Dr. Beyer records the fact that the entrance wound was in the
posterior oropharnyx three separate times (emphasis added):
 On
page 1 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer wrote (emphasis added):
Perforating
gunshot wound - entrance in mouth in posterior
oropharnyx with wound track extending backward
and upward with exit from back of head
 On
page 2 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer wrote (emphasis
added):
Perforating
gunshot wound mouth-head; entrance wound is
in the posterior oropharnyx at a point 71/2 inches from the top of the
head.
 On
page 6 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer wrote in
his own hand (emphasis added):
Entrance
-- mouth - posterior oropharnyx -- large defect
...
2. The entrance
to the brain pan was to the left of the foramen magnum
 Page
4 of the autopsy report shows a view of the skull as it would appear if
the top of the skull were removed and one looked directly downward and
into the brain pan.
The oval near the center
of the skull is the foramen magnum. The foramen magnum is an opening in
the bottom of the brain pan thorough which the brain stem passes.
Dr. Beyer drew the
circled X symbol to represent the wound where the bullet entered
the brain pan. According to Dr. Beyer's sworn testimony, the arrow
represents the path of the bullet through the skull.
3. The exit
wound was 3" from the top of the head in the center of the back of the
head
On
page 1 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer describes the wound path and the
exit wound (emphasis added):
Perforating
gunshot wound - entrance in mouth in posterior
oropharnyx with wound track extending backward
and upward with exit from back of head.
On
page 2 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer adds detail
to the description of the exit wound (emphasis added):
..
an irregular exit scalp and skull defect near the midline of the occipital
region [the occipital region is the back of
the head].
 On
page 5 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer draws the
exit defect in the skull as it would be seen in top view.
On
page 6 of the autopsy report, Dr. Beyer draws the
exit defect in the scalp as it would be seen from the back, and indicates
that the exit wound is three inches from the top of the skull.
4. The
gun was "close to the back of the throat"
Dr. Beyer
is quoted on page 32 of the Starr report on the Foster death as saying
that the gun was "close to the back of the throat" when fired (emphasis
added):
The
[autopsy] report states that "[s]ections of the soft palate" were "positive
for powder debris," and Dr. Beyer said that the gunpowder debris in the
mouth was "grossly present," meaning that it could be seen with the naked
eye, and was present in a large amount."[71] Thus,
Dr. Beyer stated that "the obvious finding was that the muzzle of the weapon
had to be in his mouth, close to the back of his throat, back of his mouth.."[72]
5. There
was "good alignment between the entrance and exit wounds"
On page 31,
the Starr report quotes Dr. Beyer as saying that entrance and exit wounds
were aligned (emphasis added):
There
was "good alignment" between the entrance and exit wounds, and
there was "no reason to think that this was not an entrance and exit defect
configuration."[69]
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jc
huntington
3/99;
updated 9/99
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