336 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
336 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 8 Num. 12
|
|
======================================
|
|
("Quid coniuratio est?")
|
|
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
SUBJECT: THE SAGA OF TOMMY BURKETT
|
|
==================================
|
|
[CN -- Thanks to a CN reader for sending the following.]
|
|
|
|
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
|
|
|
|
The Saga of Tommy Burkett
|
|
|
|
_________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earlier this month, I was fortunate to hear Beth George
|
|
Burkett, mother of Tommy Burkett, as she related her and her
|
|
husband's story concerning their attempts for justice and a
|
|
substantive investigation into the evidence and circumstances
|
|
surrounding the death of their son.
|
|
|
|
Although Beth George was reserved and somewhat
|
|
dispassionate in her retelling of the events surrounding her
|
|
son's death and it's resulting examination by the Fairfax County
|
|
police and, later, the FBI, it was impossible, as a parent, not
|
|
to recognize the astonishing sorrow, frustration, and depression
|
|
with which the Burkett's must be saddled. Their condition
|
|
results, not just from the loss of their only son, but from their
|
|
inability to convince the authorities to mount anything remotely
|
|
resembling an adequate investigation.
|
|
|
|
Investigative journalist Christopher Ruddy's article
|
|
concerning the Burkett case, and his comparison of it to the
|
|
Henry and Ives cases from Little Rock, Arkansas, appeared in the
|
|
Pittsburg-Tribune Review back in December, 1995. This article
|
|
also noted some similarities to the death of Deputy White House
|
|
Counsel Vincent Foster.
|
|
|
|
All three cases should have serious implications for
|
|
current federal inquiries into the deaths of Foster and Tommy
|
|
Burkett. But the recent history of government law enforcement's
|
|
sloppiness, and sometimes lackadaisical attitude toward some
|
|
crime investigations, leads one to concede that there no longer
|
|
is "...equal justice for all."
|
|
|
|
Thomas and Beth George Burkett, were informed, after an
|
|
18-month investigation, that the FBI had concluded that their
|
|
21-year-old son, Tommy, had committed suicide in 1991.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts had evidence that their son was murdered, a
|
|
conclusion supported by a second autopsy which they had
|
|
requested. The first autopsy had been performed by the same
|
|
Virginia medical examiner who had performed Vincent Foster's.
|
|
|
|
Beth George Burkett related the story of Tommy's death
|
|
this way. Some time prior to Tommy's Thanksgiving vacation in
|
|
1991, she received a call from him , in an obviously troubled
|
|
frame of mind. He explained that someone had ransacked his
|
|
mailbox at school, and stolen his paycheck. He insinuated that
|
|
the theft was related to something in which he was involved, and
|
|
that it was not simple theft.
|
|
|
|
Beth George was a part-time instructor at Marymount
|
|
College, her son's school. One afternoon, on campus, she was
|
|
accosted by three male students who informed her that they were
|
|
going to beat up Tommy, for some reason which was not made clear
|
|
to her. Her son was subsequently attacked by one of these young
|
|
men, on campus, on FOUR separate occasions.
|
|
|
|
The theft and the attacks were reported to campus
|
|
security and the administration. She later learned that nothing
|
|
had been done about any of the attacks. Furthermore, the
|
|
college's administration had not reported the events to the local
|
|
police.
|
|
|
|
On December 1, 1991, Mr. & Mrs. Burkett spent the
|
|
afternoon at a function in town. When they arrived home around 6
|
|
p.m., they were surprised to see that nearly all of the house
|
|
lights were off. They had left them on when leaving earlier.
|
|
They also noticed Tommy's car in the driveway.
|
|
|
|
After entering the house, they called to Tommy, letting
|
|
him know they were back. Receiving no reply, Beth George
|
|
suggested to her husband that he go up to Tommy's room. Thomas
|
|
Burkett knocked on his son's door, and opened it to see if
|
|
perhaps Tommy was asleep.
|
|
|
|
The light in Tommy's room was on, unlike those in the
|
|
rest of the house. Thomas Burkett saw his son sitting directly
|
|
opposite the door, dead. Responding to his screams, Beth George
|
|
soon joined her husband.
|
|
|
|
Eventually, through the tears and the heartache, they
|
|
began to notice some unusual things about Tommy and his
|
|
surroundings. He had a bloodied right ear , and scratches on his
|
|
chest and neck visible above the disheveled collar of his
|
|
favorite sweater. His body was surrounded by towels and such,
|
|
stuffed around him to prop him up.
|
|
|
|
It became obvious to the Burketts that Tommy's body had
|
|
been positioned for them to see as soon as they entered his room.
|
|
After further examination, Thomas Burkett also noticed that his
|
|
son's lower jaw was resting on his chest, and appeared to be
|
|
broken.
|
|
|
|
Tommy's hands were almost folded on his lap, and on top
|
|
of his hands rested a .357 magnum revolver. Beth George
|
|
remembered looking down at the gun and being able to read the
|
|
numbers on the end of the cartridges. She realized that the
|
|
cylinder of the revolver was not fully latched, thus making it
|
|
impossible to fire.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts then notified the police. Soon after the
|
|
arrival of the first Fairfax County officers, Beth George angrily
|
|
recalls one of the officers saying to them "...don't blame
|
|
yourselves, it's not your fault..." She now realizes that he had
|
|
already decided that Tommy had committed suicide.
|
|
|
|
After what the Burketts deemed a cursory examination,
|
|
including what they later determined to be an unsatisfactory
|
|
autopsy by Dr. James Beyer, the deputy medical examiner for
|
|
northern Virginia, they contacted the FBI.
|
|
|
|
Having felt cheated by the original investigation, the
|
|
Burketts hired some forensic specialists of their own. They were
|
|
soon to discover that the FBI was not interested in their
|
|
findings.
|
|
|
|
If the FBI ruled differently on Tommy's death, it would
|
|
contradict the autopsy done by Dr. Beyer, as well as the quickly
|
|
drawn conclusions of the Fairfax County police. The FBI
|
|
apparently chose not to do this. Instead, the Burketts were
|
|
stonewalled by the FBI, who insisted upon conducting a civil
|
|
rights investigation, not a criminal investigation.
|
|
|
|
The Burkett's tale is bewildering. Thomas Burkett said
|
|
his meeting with FBI officials was appalling. William Megary,
|
|
special agent in charge of the criminal division of the FBI's
|
|
local office, informed them that the FBI had conducted a "long
|
|
and exhaustive" investigation and found "nothing to indicate your
|
|
son's death was anything but a suicide."
|
|
|
|
Beth George said she quickly interrupted. She questioned
|
|
how the FBI had reached this conclusion when the family was told
|
|
repeatedly throughout the long investigation that only a civil
|
|
rights probe was being pursued.
|
|
|
|
A civil rights probe of a death, especially one examining
|
|
a local law enforcement agencies' role in possible obstruction of
|
|
justice or cover-up, would likely have to include an
|
|
investigation of the death itself, experts claim.
|
|
|
|
An FBI spokesman told the Burketts that the agency had
|
|
investigated the death, and had determined that there was no
|
|
cover-up, and Tommy's death was a suicide.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts recorded their phone calls with the lead FBI
|
|
agent, Robert Posica. On these tapes, Posica can be heard, in an
|
|
offensive tone, proclaiming that he was conducting a narrow civil
|
|
rights probe and not a death investigation.
|
|
|
|
Posica told Mrs. Burkett that he had no desire to
|
|
investigate the death or even to meet with them. Eventually he
|
|
did meet with them, five months after the inquiry was begun.
|
|
|
|
In his meeting with the Burketts, FBI Agent Megary told
|
|
them they could not see the case file. After they complained, he
|
|
suggested they should file a Freedom of Information Act request.
|
|
FOIA requests to the FBI frequently take years. Although
|
|
informed by a spokesman that this was "...standard operating
|
|
procedure", the couple decided to forego the attempt.
|
|
|
|
Despite the FBI's conclusion, the Burketts themselves
|
|
have accumulated evidence pointing to murder. The autopsy
|
|
performed for the couple by the former medical examiner for
|
|
Syracuse, N.Y., showed results quite different from that done by
|
|
Dr. Beyer.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Beyer's autopsy had noted a quarter-inch by half-inch
|
|
hole in the back of Tommy's neck, just above the collar, and
|
|
offered it as the "exit wound" for the .357 magnum bullet which
|
|
supposedly killed Tommy. Every forensics expert consulted by the
|
|
Burketts refuted this as impossibly small and clean.
|
|
|
|
Interestingly, the bullet thought to have caused this
|
|
wound was not only embedded in the wallboard in FRONT of Tommy's
|
|
body, out of position for the proposed scenario, but was left in
|
|
place by the police and FBI. No ballistics tests were ever
|
|
performed on this bullet. Additionally, there was no gunpowder
|
|
residue in Tommy's mouth, the supposed entry location for the
|
|
lethal bullet.
|
|
|
|
The second autopsy also noted that Tommy Burkett's ear
|
|
had suffered trauma, indicating that he may have been beaten.
|
|
And, as Thomas Burkett had suspected, his son's lower jaw was
|
|
fractured. This injury, along with the scratches on his chest,
|
|
are inconsistent with suicide.
|
|
|
|
The first autopsy, conducted by Beyer reported no such
|
|
findings. The second autopsy also discovered Tommy Burkett's
|
|
lungs had never been dissected, despite Dr. Beyer's claim in his
|
|
report that he had performed that operation .
|
|
|
|
Equally as damning forensically, were the scattered blood
|
|
stains. The day after Tommy's death, Beth George and Thomas
|
|
began to notice some out of place items on the first floor of the
|
|
house; things that looked as though they had been knocked around
|
|
or tipped over. Then they began to notice what appeared to be
|
|
blood, splashed on the walls in several locations, in very fine
|
|
droplets.
|
|
|
|
The FBI had dismissed the blood splatter as having
|
|
existed prior to Tommy's death. "...You just never noticed it
|
|
before..." they told the Burketts. Quite to the contrary, the
|
|
experts hired by the Burketts identified these same stains as
|
|
classic blood splatter resulting from an individual being shot,
|
|
with the resulting very fine bloody mist spraying about. Their
|
|
conclusion was that Tommy, and perhaps others, were shot on the
|
|
first floor, probably during a struggle.
|
|
|
|
Further investigation by the Burketts and their team
|
|
discovered several other glaring discrepancies in the "official"
|
|
investigation. Interviews with nearby neighbors uncovered
|
|
reports of the sound of multiple gunshots originating from the
|
|
Burkett home that afternoon in December.
|
|
|
|
One neighbor volunteered as to how she had called 911
|
|
that afternoon, after hearing gunshots, and reported their origin
|
|
as the Burkett address. Subsequent searches of the 911 tapes
|
|
revealed not only the neighbor's call, but that Tommy Burkett
|
|
himself had called 911 TWICE that afternoon from his home. NO
|
|
emergency vehicles OR police officers responded to any of those
|
|
calls that day. The Burketts also discovered that none of the
|
|
neighbors had been interviewed by the local police.
|
|
|
|
Thomas Burkett said he saw one of the original autopsy
|
|
photos, taken from the files of Dr. Beyer. Beyer later wrote to
|
|
the couple stating that only one autopsy photo was taken. If
|
|
true, it is a violation of proper procedure.
|
|
|
|
Beyer also said he took no X-rays. This troubling aspect
|
|
of the autopsy seems to be a relatively consistent aberration of
|
|
Dr. Beyers'. He subsequently claimed not to have X-rayed Vincent
|
|
Foster's body either.
|
|
|
|
So, without x-rays or photos from the first autopsy, it
|
|
would be difficult to prove that the injured ear and broken jaw
|
|
were overlooked by Dr. Beyer.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts' meeting with the FBI did not include a
|
|
discussion of the first autopsy, but one FBI official insisted
|
|
that even the second autopsy supported a finding of suicide.
|
|
|
|
Indications of incompetence, as well as signs of a
|
|
cover-up, were enough for the program "Unsolved Mysteries" to
|
|
film a segment for its show.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts insist that the Fairfax police ruled on
|
|
Tommy's death too quickly, and conducted too little
|
|
investigation. Fairfax police contend that the ruling for
|
|
suicide was based primarily on Dr. Beyer's autopsy. Beyer has
|
|
said he did not rule that the death was a suicide, only
|
|
consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot.
|
|
|
|
The FBI contends it conducted an extensive investigation,
|
|
including 180 interviews, over 1800 pages of reporting, and a
|
|
thorough review of the Fairfax police and medical examiner's
|
|
report.
|
|
|
|
Since the Burketts can't see the FBI file without a FOIA
|
|
request, they don't know for sure who was interviewed during the
|
|
FBI investigation.
|
|
|
|
Since their last unsatisfactory meeting with the FBI, the
|
|
Burketts have contacted every official and congressman whom they
|
|
thought could be of help. Congressman William Clinger did call
|
|
for a hearing with the FBI about the Burkett's allegations.
|
|
While he did conduct interviews with the FBI agents involved, the
|
|
Burketts and their investigators were not allowed in the hearing
|
|
room at that time, nor were they given the opportunity to present
|
|
their case in the hearing. Beth George said she believes that
|
|
Clinger has dropped any plans to proceed further.
|
|
|
|
Thomas and Beth George's remaining hope for justice, at
|
|
this point, appears to be with Senator Orrin Hatch's Judiciary
|
|
Committee. As of now, he at least has not dismissed them out of
|
|
hand.
|
|
|
|
The Burketts have reached the conclusion that their son
|
|
Tommy had become some sort of informant for the DEA. They
|
|
believe that his death was the result of a hit, they're just not
|
|
sure from which side of the drug war.
|
|
|
|
From the evidence they have gathered, the couple is
|
|
convinced that as many as two other people were shot in their
|
|
home that afternoon, in a struggle that resulted in Tommy's
|
|
death. They also believe that his body was positioned as it was,
|
|
not to imitate a suicide, but as a warning of some sort.
|
|
|
|
They are also thoroughly convinced of not only
|
|
incompetence on the part of some of the Fairfax County officials
|
|
and the FBI, but also of a cover-up of the ensuing investigation
|
|
by these same agencies.
|
|
|
|
One could scarcely imagine such incidents occurring in
|
|
the United States in days past. Today, unfortunately, this story
|
|
is only one of an ever increasing number of unbelievable direct
|
|
and indirect assaults on the citizenry by agencies of the
|
|
government, with nowhere to look for justice or retribution.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail
|
|
address, send a message in the form "subscribe cn-l My Name" to
|
|
listproc@cornell.edu (Note: that is "CN-L" *not* "CN-1")
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
For information on how to receive the improved Conspiracy
|
|
Nation Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
|
|
(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
See also: ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
|
|
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
|
|
pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
|
|
|