Last surviving FBI agent at JFK autopsy who 'did not believe the single bullet theory' dies

Present: Jim Sibert, who died on April 6, was at the autopsy of the President's body the night of the assassination

The last remaining FBI agent present for the autopsy of President John F. Kennedy has died, and with him goes one more account version of what happened when the 35th President was assassinated.

James Sibert was 93-years-old when he died two weeks ago, but he is undoubtedly going to live on in history as one of the people that helped promote the conspiracy theories that followed the president's death that continue to this day.

In interviews following his retirement from the FBI, Mr Sibert publicly said that he 'didn't buy the single bullet theory' which was what the government investigation concluded as fact.



The shooting death of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 while he was riding in an open-topped convertible along a parade route in Dallas, Texas.

Because of the hurried pace of the investigation, the quick vigilante murder of the lone suspect, and conflicting reports of who knew what have spawned on an undying slew of conspiracy theories that Mr Kennedy was shot by a long list of people other than Lee Harvey Oswald, the man officially thought to have 'acted alone'.

President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963 there are still many conspiracies about the nature of his death, and whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone or not

Though Mr Sibert was a secret service agent, he was not on hand with the crew in Dallas who were witnesses to the actual event.

Instead, he was one of the few present for the autopsy of the President's body after it was flown back to Washington, D.C. later that day.

The autopsy report stated that he had been shot twice: once in the back and once in the head.

The 'single bullet theory' posits that the bullet that struck President Kennedy's neck then went through the seat in front of him and hit the thigh of Texas Governor John Connally in the thigh.

Angles of impact: The official sketches used by the Warren Commission show that there is a possibility that a single bullet went through the President's back and eventually hit Governor Connally

Re-enactment: Arlen Specter (left) was a part of the Warren Commission which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy and he suggested the controversial single bullet theory

Critics argue that the two injuries were caused by two different bullets, whereas the Warren Commission, the official government investigation into the incident, deemed it was a single bullet that caused both injuries.

The shot to the back of his head an unexpectedly large area of damage with several significant pieces of his skull flew off immediately after the shot.

The damage was so great that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy tried climbing out the back of the convertible to retrieve the portion of her husband's brains and skull that had been blown off.

Mr Sibert, who died on April 6 due to complications from a hospital fall, was one of the 36 people present for the autopsy.

First shot: Autopsy photos show how the first bullet hit the back of President Kennedy's neck (left), and the second went through the back of the President's head (right)



He is far from a lone conspiracy theorist on this issue, as the single bullet theory (or, as critics call it, the Magic Bullet theory) depends a great deal on specific calculations of the speed of the bullet and how much resistance it would have encountered after going through the President's back and exiting at his neck.

Last agent standing: Bob Sibert, seen in this undated photo, died recently and was the last living Secret Service agent present for JFK's autopsy

The theory, which is largely credited to Arlen Specter who is now the Senator of Pennsylvania, was tested extensively by the commission.

They even carried out a complete re-enactment of the shooting with a similar car (the actual presidential limousine was not available at the time) in Dallas to test the measurements and angles that they rested their case upon.

Even after the full investigation, the final Warren Commission report stated that not all investigators believed the single bullet theory to be accurate.

The conclusion stated that there was a 'difference of opinion' among members 'as to this probability'.

In the end, the government signed off on the Single Bullet Theory, and it supported the idea that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the murder.

'I do believe he will have a place in history' his son Bob Sibert, who followed in his father's footsteps and is now a retired FBI agent himself, told The Naples News .