224 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
224 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: ATTEMPTED MURDER vs. THE POLITICS OF UFOLOGY FILE: UFO3341
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Attempted Murder vs. The Politics of Ufology: A Question of
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Priorities in the Linda Napolitano Case
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by George P. Hansen
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ABSTRACT: UFO abductee Linda Napolitano claims that she was
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kidnapped, assaulted, battered, harassed, and nearly drowned by
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two agents of the U.S. government. Prominent ufologists Budd
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Hopkins, John E. Mack, David M. Jacobs, Jerome Clark and Walter
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H. Andrus, Jr. accept these claims. Hopkins has collected
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extensive materials that could be used to help apprehend and
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convict the agents. Yet Hopkins, Clark and Andrus have
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vigorously argued that these crimes should not be reported to law
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enforcement authorities; they indicate that such could be
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"politically damaging" to UFO research. These ufologists are
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asked to defend their decision and priorities.
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Budd Hopkins' case involving the abduction of Linda Napolitano
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by a UFO has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal (May 14,
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1992, pp. A1, A10), Omni (April 1992, p. 75), Paris Match (17
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ept. 92, pp. 13-14, 18, 96, 98), and the New York Times (October
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5, 1992, pp. B1, B2). The Mufon UFO Journal labeled it "The
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Abduction Case of the Century" (August 1992, p. 9). By virtue of
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this intense interest, it will become an exemplar for the study
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of UFO abductions.
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Briefly, it is asserted that at about 3:15 a.m. on November 30, 1989,
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Linda Napolitano floated out of her 12th floor apartment in lower
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Manhattan. Allegedly three witnesses in a car about two blocks away
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observed Linda and three humanoid figures emerge from a window and ascend
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into a craft hovering over her building. Two of the witnesses, Richard and
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Dan, were government security officers who were guarding the third witness,
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a dignitary. More than a year after the case, Richard and Dan wrote to
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Hopkins describing what they saw, and a few weeks later they visited Linda
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in her apartment. Hopkins has never met these two but has over 80 pages of
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letters from them, and he has accumulated much other material pertinent to
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the case.
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The affair is quite complex, and the story is now only beginning to be
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told. Hopkins presented a few details at the 1992 MUFON convention in
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Albuquerque and then in the September 1992 issue of the Mufon UFO Journal.
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One of the most disturbing elements of the case is that felonies were
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allegedly committed by the government agents; these include assault,
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battery, kidnapping and attempted murder.
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Hopkins' published account of this aspect is so sketchy that some might
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consider it deliberately misleading. His entire written summary is only
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one sentence long: "In April and again in October 1991, Linda would suffer
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hours- long forced confinements and interrogations at the hands of these
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confused frightened `law-enforcement' officers; she would be struck by a
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car during a chase through the streets of lower Manhattan" (Mufon UFO
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Journal, September 1992, pp. 13, 14). Hopkins' brief statement hardly
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conveys the gravity of the situation. It suggests that he may have taken
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these matters much too lightly.
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The kidnappings and attempted murder
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On January 28, 1992, Linda Napolitano contacted Richard Butler and
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requested a meeting because she was concerned about her personal safety,
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and she was worried that Hopkins might not be able to adequately protect
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her. Linda had earlier become friends with Butler at meetings in the home
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of Budd Hopkins. On February 1, 1992, Linda met with Butler along with
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Joseph Stefula, a former Special Agent with the U.S. Army Criminal
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Investigation Command who has extensive contacts in law enforcement.
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During the meeting, Linda stated that in April 1991 she encountered
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security agent Richard on the street near her apartment. She was asked to
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get into a car that Dan was driving, but she refused. Richard then picked
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her up and, with some struggle, forced her into the automobile. Linda
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reported that she was driven around for 3 1/2 hours and interrogated about
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the aliens.
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At the MUFON symposium in July 1992, Linda was asked if she had reported
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the kidnapping to the police. She said that she had not and went on to say
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that the kidnapping was legal because it had to do with national security;
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she later commented that she did not want to go head to head with a
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government agency because she might be killed and pieces of her might be
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found in the East River (Hopkins did not dispute these statements). Linda
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did remember another car being involved with the kidnapping, and under
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hypnotic regression she recalled the license plate number of that
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automobile, as well as part of the number of the car she was in. Hopkins
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reports that the numbers have been traced to particular agencies.
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During the February 1 meeting with Stefula and Butler, Linda reported
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that on the morning of October 15, 1991, Dan pulled her into a red Jaguar
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sports car. Linda happened to be carrying a tape recorder and was able to
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surreptitiously record a small part of Dan's questioning, but within a few
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minutes he discovered and confiscated it. Dan drove to a beach house on
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the shore of Long Island. There he demanded that Linda remove her clothes
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and put on a white nightgown, similar to the one she wore the night of the
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UFO abduction. He said he wanted to have sex with her. She refused but
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then agreed to put on the nightgown over her clothes. Once she did, Dan
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droppped to his knees and started to talk incoherently about her being the
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"Lady of the Sands." She fled the beach house, but Dan caught her on the
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beach and bent her arm behind her. He placed two fingers on the back of
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her neck, leading Linda to believe that it was a gun. He then forced her
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into the water and pushed her head under twice. He continued to rave
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incoherently, and as her head was being pushed under for the third time,
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she believed that she would not come up again. Then, a "force" hit Dan and
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knocked him back onto the beach. Linda started to run but heard a sound
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like a gun being cocked. She looked back and saw Dan taking a picture of
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her (the pictures were eventually sent to Hopkins). She continued to move,
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but Richard came running, seemingly out of nowhere. He stopped her and
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convinced her to return to the beach house, and he told her that he would
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control Dan by giving him a Mickey Finn. She agreed to the plan. Once
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inside, Richard put Dan in the shower to wash off the mud from the beach.
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This gave Linda a chance to search the premises; she recovered her cassette
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tape and discovered stationery bearing a Central Intelligence Agency
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letterhead.
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In a brief conversation on October 3, 1992, Hopkins told me that Linda
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came to him shortly after she arrived back in Manhattan after the
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kidnapping. She was disheveled, had sand in her hair, and was traumatized
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by the experience.
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Linda also reported to Stefula and Butler that on December 15 and
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December 16, 1991, one of the men had tried to make contact with her near
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the shopping area of the South Street Seaport. He was driving a large
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black Fleetwood sedan with Saudi Arabian United Nations license plates. To
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avoid him, Linda said that she went into a shop during the first incident.
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The second day a similar thing happened, and she stood next to some
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businessmen until he left the area.
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Evidence accumulated by Hopkins
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Hopkins reports accumulating much information about the identities of
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Richard and Dan, and this could be extremely helpful in a criminal
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investigation. He has approximately 80 pages of letters from the two men.
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These might potentially be used to identify typewriters on which they were
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produced. They may also contain fingerprints. Hopkins has tape recordings
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of Richard and Dan; perhaps these could be used to help identify them by
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voiceprints. Hopkins claims to know which government agency employs the
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two. He says that he knows the identity of the dignitary they were
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guarding, and this person should be in a position to help locate and
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identify Richard and Dan. (Linda told Stefula and Butler that the
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dignitary was Javier Perez de Cuellar, then Secretary General of the United
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Nations.)
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The counsel of ufology's leaders
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The reader may be tempted to dismiss Linda's account as a preposterous
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script for a grade B movie, and I personally do not believe her claims.
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However, several notable figures in ufology have expressed the conviction
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that Linda is telling the truth. On October 6, 1992, I spoke with Dr. John
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Mack, former head of the psychiatry department at Harvard Medical School,
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and he confirmed that he had met Linda and concluded that she was not the
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type of person to make up this kind of story. That same day I also spoke
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with David Jacobs, a professor of history at Temple University, an
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abduction research colleague of Budd Hopkins, and author of the book Secret
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Life. He too believed that Linda was telling the truth.
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Hopkins presented additional secret evidence to Walter Andrus and Jerome
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Clark who are now both persuaded of Linda's honesty. Andrus and Clark are
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arguably the two most influential figures in U.S. ufology. Andrus is
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International Director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), and he organizes
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the largest annual conference on UFOs in the country and regularly writes
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for MUFON's monthly magazine. Clark is a columnist for Fate magazine,
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editor of International UFO Reporter, and a vice-president of the Center
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for UFO Studies.
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At a meeting in New York City on October 3, 1992, Linda said that she is
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willing to testify against Richard and Dan (though she had previously
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indicated that she was afraid of filing charges herself). I informed those
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at the meeting that I was prepared to make a formal request for a federal
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investigation of the attempted murder of Linda. Hopkins, Andrus, and Clark
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all vigorously objected to this, and they strongly urged me not to do so.
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They said that such action would be "politically damaging" to ufology. I
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was extremely puzzled by their reasoning and their apparent priorities. On
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October 5, 1992, two days later, I called Andrus to make certain that I
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understood his position. I asked him to join with me and request a formal
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investigation of these allegations by the proper law enforcement agencies.
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I explained to him that UFO researchers were generally not qualified to
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investigate attempted murder. I was taken aback when Andrus asked me what
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right I had to raise these issues. He again urged that the crimes not be
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reported. The following day I spoke with Clark. He told me that he
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accepted Linda's statements, and he reaffirmed his opposition to reporting
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the crimes.
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I have not been given a satisfactory explanation for their views. At
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risk is not only the safety of Linda but also that of the general public.
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If federal agents have engaged in kidnapping and attempted murder, they
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should be brought to justice. The matter is of great concern for the
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general citizenry and for the conduct of UFO abduction research. I call
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upon Clark, Andrus, and Hopkins to publicly explain their rationale and
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priorities.
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---------------------------------------------
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20 October 1992
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To: Michael Corbin Message #: 3507 3398 <Thread
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From: Anson Kennedy Submitted: 27 Oct 92 19:06:00
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Subject: "linda" Abduction Case - Status: Public
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Received: No Group: INFO.PARANET (1)
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RE: "linda" Abduction Case - Part 1
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Just one comment.
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Have I missed something? Every other account of this case which
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named the alleged abductee used the pseudonym "Linda Cortile."
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Now her last name is "Napolitano." Has someone slipped and
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leaked her real name?
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--- Anson
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