Gayle Nix Jackson claims the missing video footage made by her grandfather could determine whether there was a second gunman when Kennedy was shot

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A woman whose grandfather shot a home video of the assassination of president John F Kennedy that has since been misplaced is suing the US government, demanding the film be returned or that she be paid $10m in compensation.



Gayle Nix Jackson filed the lawsuit in federal court on Saturday, one day before the 52nd anniversary of Kennedy’s death. The film was shot by her grandfather Orville Nix and shows the assassination in Dealey plaza in Dallas on 22 November 1963.

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Jackson’s lawsuit claims the film is as important as the assassination footage captured by Abraham Zapruder with his movie camera. The federal government settled with Zapruder’s heirs in 1999 to purchase the film for $16m.

The claim states: “According to the Warren Commission, the Nix film is nearly as important as the Zapruder film, yet the public is mainly unaware of its significance.”

The Warren Commission conducted the government’s investigation of the shooting.

The eight-millimetre film was taken from the opposite side of the president’s limousine from where the Zapruder film was shot.

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Orville Nix sold his film to the UPI news agency for $5,000 in 1963 with an understanding it would be returned after 25 years. During that period, it was turned over to the US government for the Warren Commission and other official investigations of the Kennedy assassination, the lawsuit said.

The film was last known to be in possession of the government for the House select committee on assassinations in 1978. Its whereabouts have been unknown ever since, the lawsuit said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest President John F Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas governor John Connally ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas, before the assassination on 22 November 1963 Photograph: Corbis

Jackson filed the suit after the National Archives reported to the family in 2015 that the government did not have the original film or a chain of possession for it, according to her lawyer, Athan Tsimpedes.

Farris Rookstool III, a former FBI analyst in Dallas, said he helped the family obtain a duplicate of the FBI’s copy of the film. The family turned that copy over to the Sixth Floor Museum, the Dallas museum dedicated to JFK’s presidency and the assassination.

Rookstool said: “The film is a mirror image of the Zapruder film from the other side of Dealey plaza.”

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The film shows a bullet striking the president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy climbing out of the limo.

Jackson, who has written a book about the film, has been trying to recover the original film for years because she has publicly stated it could determine whether there was a second gunman involved in the assassination, as conspiracy theorists continue to believe.