Accused Kennedy Assassin's Picture is Authentic, New Study Reveals

Scientists have found that the famous backyard photo of Lee Harvey Oswald showing him holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy was not faked. A new study analyzes the picture to show that it is, indeed, authentic.

There have been continued claims that the photo itself was faked because Oswald's pose is physically implausible. However, this latest study used a new digital forensics technique and a 3D model of Oswald to find out whether or not the pose was possible.

"Our detailed analysis of Oswald's pose, the lighting and shadows and the rifle in his hands refutes the argument of photo tampering," said Hany Farid, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Oswald was actually killed before his trial, so he never gave a full accounting of the assassination. This fueled theories that he was part of a conspiracy. These theories pointed toward purported inconsistencies in the events of Nov. 22, 1963, and in the evidence collected against Oswald.

One of these pieces of evidence was the photograph of Oswald in his backyard holstering a pistol and holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other. This picture was particularly damning since it showed Oswald holding the same type of gun used to assassinate Kennedy.

At the time of his arrest, Oswald claimed the photo was fake. In addition, it's long been argued that the shadows in the photo are inconsistent, and that Oswald's facial features are inconsistent with other photos of him. Yet studies in 2009 and 2010 refuted the claim that lighting and shadows were inconsistent, and this latest study addresses the claim that Oswald's pose was physically implausible.

"Our analysis refutes purported evidence of manipulation in the Oswald photo, but more generally we believe that the type of detailed 3D modeling performed here can be a powerful forensic tool in reasoning about the physical plausibility of an image," said Farid. "With a simple adjustment to the height and weight, the 3D human model that we created can be used to forensically analyze the pose, stability and shadows in any image of people."

The findings are published in the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law.

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