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Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Who Killed Roger Craig?

     On the afternoon of May 15, 1975 former law enforcement officer Roger Dean Craig was found shot to death at the age of thirty-nine.  It immediately looked like a suicide with a weapon and note found near the body.  However, many pointed out that Craig had reportedly survived several attempts on his life in recent years.  This led many to speculate that Craig's death was a murder disguised as a suicide.  Who was Roger Craig and who wanted him dead?  

     Roger Craig was born in Wisconsin in 1934 and ran away from home when he was twelve.  He worked on a series of farms across the midwest before making his way to Texas.   Roger served in the Army in the early 1950's and settled in the Dallas area afterwards.  Roger began working for the Dallas County Sheriff's Department as a deputy in the late 1950's.  Roger was named Man of the Year by the Sheriff's Department in 1960 for his role in apprehending a jewelry thief.  

     Like most law enforcement personnel in Dallas, Roger was on duty on November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated in a motorcade in downtown Dallas.  Deputy Craig reportedly ran toward the grassy knoll area when the shots rang out, as did several other people.  He began trying to secure the scene, noting that a few cars in the parking lot behind the grassy knoll area were attempting to leave.  Deputy Craig reportedly saw a young man run from the Texas School Book Depository building and get into a light green Rambler station wagon.  Craig found this to be suspicious and wanted to stop the car.  Apparently, traffic prevented Craig from getting to the car in time to stop it before the Rambler fled the chaotic area.  Later in the day Deputy Craig saw the same young man again.  This time the young man was in police custody at Dallas P.D.  Deputy Craig was relieved that the suspicious young man had been apprehended and he relayed the story of seeing the man flee the assassination scene in the green Rambler to his superiors.  

     The young man in custody was identified as twenty-four-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald.  According to Craig, Oswald admitted to him in front of Captain Will Fritz that the Rambler belonged to Mrs. Paine and Oswald said not to drag her into it because she hadn't done anything wrong.  Mrs. Ruth Paine was the woman that Oswald's estranged wife lived with.  After the events of that weekend unfolded and Oswald ended up dead while in police custody, Deputy Craig was reportedly told that he had to be mistaken about seeing Oswald get into the Rambler.  The official investigation showed Oswald boarding a bus when he left downtown Dallas after the shooting not getting into a car so Craig had to be mistaken in what he saw.  However, Craig refused to change his story.  This didn't sit well with his superiors and the once celebrated deputy, who had been promoted four times prior to November 22, 1963, was promoted no more.  Craig was eventually fired from the Sheriff's Department.  

     In 1967 Roger Craig was a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Clay Shaw, the New Orleans businessman who was charged with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy.  Craig again repeated his claim that someone in a light green Rambler picked Oswald up immediately after the shooting.  The U.S. government said Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, so Craig's testimony cast doubt on that finding and made it seem like Oswald had help and the assassination had indeed been a conspiracy.  Shaw was found not guilty in his trial.  However, someone fired a shot at Roger Craig as he walked toward his car.  The bullet grazed his head, but he wasn't seriously harmed.

     Craig thought someone was trying to kill him because he refused to change his story about Oswald and the Rambler.  But Craig refused to waver and gave interviews with journalists who were researching the possibility of a conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination.  In 1973 Craig's car was forced off the road in another alleged attempt on his life.  The crash left him badly injured.  The following year he survived another shooting.  Then, Craig's car exploded, nearly killing him.

     Craig reportedly remained undeterred and stuck to his story about Oswald and the Rambler.  Craig was reportedly going to testify before the Church Committee, a Senate investigative committee looking into the Kennedy assassination.  Craig never got the chance.  And nearly fifty years later questions remain about the death of Roger Craig.  Ironically, several individuals who were supposed to testify before the Church Committee died under mysterious circumstances.

     So, what do you think?  Was Roger Craig depressed and in pain from the injuries he had sustained?  Did this cause him to take his own life?  Or was he the victim of foul play?  Was someone trying to silence Roger Craig?  Was his death connected to the other reported attempts on his life?  Will we ever know the truth about the death of Roger Craig?  

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