Real Name: Jamie Scott Enyart

Case: Robbery/Conspiracy

Date: June 5, 1968

Location: Los Angeles, California



Details: On June 5, 1968, fifteen-year-old photographer Scott Enyart was at the Ambassador Hotel, taking pictures for his high school newspaper, when senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Enyart claims that he took a total of three rolls of film that night. The first depicted the stage before Kennedy started his speech. He loaded the second roll as the speech begun. After the speech concluded, he and several other people followed Kennedy from the stage into the pantry as he shook hands with the kitchen staff. He claims to have had a clear view of Kennedy as the shooting took place. He also claims that he jumped on a table and took more pictures as the alleged shooter, Sirhan Sirhan, was apprehended.

A few minutes later, Enyart returned to the ballroom where pandemonium had broken out. At that time, he says he loaded and clicked off his third roll of film. He claims that later during the night of the shooting, police officers chased him down and confiscated his camera, rolls of film and negatives, presumably in order to use the photos as evidence. At around 3AM, Enyart was brought in for questioning, which lasted about twenty minutes. After Sirhan Sirhan's conviction, the LAPD told Scott that they had his photographs. They told him that his photographs, along with all of the other evidence and documents, would be sealed for twenty years.



In 1988, Enyart, now an established photographer, wrote to the LAPD asking for the return of the photos. Five months later, he received a letter from the California State Archives, which stated that his photographs could not be found. It concluded that his photographs were destroyed by the LAPD in August of 1968. Enyart then filed a lawsuit against the police. Police later found a sheet of negatives that they believed were his.

A few weeks later, city attorneys presented him with a proofsheet made from the negatives. He was suspicious because it only showed one roll of film. It was also on Ilford, ASA 125, even though he claimed that he shot the three rolls on Tri-X, ASA 400, manufactured by Kodak. He believes that the police combined his second and third rolls and used the combination as the proofsheet. However, the police claim that the sheet is an entire roll of film. They also do not believe that he was in the pantry at the time of the shooting.

In 1991, a book was released which contained several previously unpublished photographs. Enyart found a photograph of several people in the pantry shortly after the shooting. He believes that he is the young man at the top of the picture, holding a camera and standing on the table. However, the police do not believe that the person in the photograph was Enyart.

Enyart continued to press his case against the LAPD. In January of 1996, the city attorney's office hired a private courier to transfer the negatives from the archives in San Francisco to Los Angeles. After arriving in Los Angeles, the courier rented a car to drive to the courthouse. Along the way there, he got a flat tire that was apparently slashed by a knife. He then pulled into a service station. Within the next ten minutes, the briefcase containing the negatives was stolen. Many believe that Scott Enyart's photographs hold the key to the controversy over who really shot Robert Kennedy.

Suspects: It is not known who may have stolen the negatives from the courier, but some believe that it may have been a conspiracy to keep the real truth about the shooting from being revealed.

Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the May 3, 1996 episode.

Results: Unresolved. In August of 1996, a Los Angeles jury awarded Scott Enyart $465,000 in his claim against the city. The jury believed that Enyart was in the pantry when Kennedy was shot and that he took three rolls of film. The city was found to be negligent in returning the photographs that the police had confiscated. Despite this, the photographs have never been found.

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