Dan Rather's name is not Kenneth. Part of what makes this so bizarre is that someone attacked him, seemingly demanding answers from someone who was not him. Rather tried to tell them "You have the wrong guy," only to be met with the repeated line again and a punch to the jaw. One of the executive producers at CBS suggested that since Rather was dressed casually and not wearing glasses, which he did not wear on air, that he was maybe suspected for someone else.

However, when we get to suspects, this might not totally make sense. So let's hop to suspects.

Suspect(s)

There's really only one suspect named with the case. Over ten years after the attack, Rather came to a conclusion over who could have possibly attacked him.

William Trager

By the time Rather came to the conclusion that one of his assailants was Trager, Trager was already in jail for fatally shooting an NBC stagehand outside Rockefeller Center. Additionally, it was outside the statute of limitations to bring charges against him for Rather's assault.

A psychiatrist who interviewed Trager said both instances were due to paranoia and suspicion towards the media. The "frequency" he was questioning was related to the media broadcasting "hostile" messages into his brain. The psychiatrist, Dr. Park Dietz, attempted to confirm that it was Trager by asking both him and Rather questions about details on the attack. He claimed "there were certain details about the building in which part of the attack occurred that both Mr. Rather and Mr. Tager recalled identically. " Trager was clearly very mentally ill and was convicted for attacking a member of the broadcast media. So, he does seem like a logical answer.

Thoughts? Conclusions? Is the case really solved?

I have a couple issues with Trager. First of all, a lot of psychologist are not big fans of eyewitness testimony, especially over time. This is over ten years later for the both of them, and Rather was being attacked and beaten to the ground. It's understandable if he couldn't get a good look at the attackers' faces. Additionally, if Trager already had these feelings of hostility towards the media from his mental illness, it could take very little suggestion for him to get on board for being responsible.