Last Surviving Dallas Detective in JFK Assassination Case Has Died

(LibertyInsider.org) – On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas, Texas. Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald for the crime, and he was fatally shot two days later by nightclub operator Jack Ruby. Naturally, considering the shocking nature of the crime, there was a thorough investigation into JFK’s death. The last remaining detective involved in the local probe has now died.

On Tuesday, May 28, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza announced the passing of Elmer Boyd, the final surviving Dallas detective on the JFK case. He was 96 years old. Boyd grew up outside of Dallas and joined the police department in May 1952. He was promoted just five years later to homicide and robbery detective. In 1963, he was assigned to be part of JFK’s motorcade patrol, but a last-minute reassignment put him at Trade Mart, where the late president was scheduled to attend a luncheon.

Elmer Boyd, last Dallas detective to investigate JFK assassination, took Lee Harvey Oswald into custody, dead at 96 https://t.co/XyrbPhrou5 pic.twitter.com/ctQ14RUYqD

— New York Post (@nypost) May 29, 2024

Boyd was known for remaining notoriously tight-lipped about the investigation and his involvement thereof, but he was one of the main detectives on the case, especially where Oswald was concerned. He was one of two to bring the suspect into custody and sat in on the majority of the interviews with Oswald.

Boyd was also assigned to guard Ruby after he shot Oswald. He shared his suspicions that the shooting was an inside job because Oswald was killed during a transfer, but the time was changed ahead of the move, and it wasn’t made available to the public. Boyd also noted that Ruby and Oswald were linked together prior to JFK’s assassination, an allegation that was later added to the Warren Commission Report, the 888-page document covering the investigation into the president’s death.

The former detective finally recorded an oral accounting of the story for The Sixth Floor Museum in 2007 and later participated in a Living History program where he detailed his involvement. Boyd also donated his cowboy hat, firearms, and the handcuffs used to restrain Oswald to the establishment last year.