Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country's Most Controversial Cover-Ups (60 page)

Evidence like the absence of blood pooling is very important, yet it doesn’t tell us
when
the victim died. But something else does, and it’s one of those marvels of forensic science that surprise even the experts: it’s
the summer flies.
The flies in a hot and humid Washington summer behave in a very established and predictable manner—and that combined with another factor, clearly establishes the incongruity between the estimated time of death versus the time that the victim was in the park.

Believe it or not, it’s a well established fact (to biologists, at least) that the summer flies in a hot humid park on an afternoon in July will behave in a manner that is entirely predictable. Insect experts know it, and Emergency Medical Technicians know it too—because they’re called out to emergencies and they know that the flies begin to swarm around a dead body. They
even
know that it’s a process that takes an hour or two. They don’t begin to swarm immediately. But after two hours, or a bit less, the flies will inevitably begin swarming around a dead body and then, like clockwork, they will, after a certain period, begin laying eggs. As Professor Carl Jones, an expert on insects at the College of Veterinary Medicine determined, based on the date, the location, the temperature and the approximate time of day at Fort Marcy Park, the flies would have began laying eggs in “no more than one and a half hours.”
⁴⁹⁷

But the flies
hadn’t
begun laying eggs when Vince Foster was found in the park, and the EMTs and first officers on the scene not only noticed it, they knew what it meant—that Foster’s body could not have been in the park for very long. Their testimony was clear—one of the officers on the scene, on
three
occasions, made specific reference to the presence of the flies on the body but the absence of fly eggs, because he was aware of its significance:

“Flies were buzzing around his face, starting to—no eggs were laid yet.”

“Again, the flies, I just—he hadn’t been there long because they are pretty fast workers.”
⁴⁹⁸

“The blood was starting to clot—the flies work pretty fast once they start, but I would say they won’t go immediately.”
⁴⁹⁹

Digestion stops at death. So a common forensic method that doctors use to get an accurate estimated time of death is examining the contents of the stomach. We know what Vince Foster had for lunch that day: cheeseburger, french fries, and a Coke. We also know when he ate it: approximately 12:45 PM, because after he finished his lunch in his office, he passed by his secretary and then a Secret Service agent, both of whom recall the time as approximately 1:00 PM.

As a result of examining the stomach contents, doctors concluded that Foster had eaten a large meal between two to three hours prior to the moment of death. Therefore, we can estimate death as occurring in a time window of 2:45 PM to 3:45 PM (12:45 PM, plus two to three hours).

But the officers in the park observed Foster’s corpse—absent of fly eggs—at 6:40 PM. Allowing a period of up to one and half hours—because fly eggs had not been lain—the earliest that Foster could have been dead in the park is 5:10 PM. The point is crucial because of what it proves—
Foster’s body could not have been in the park prior to 5:00 PM, but we know that he was already dead by 4:00 PM.
Therefore, in accordance with other evidence, Foster did not die at the location where his body was found. He died earlier, and his body was moved to the park!
⁵⁰⁰

The semen stain found on the inside front portion of Foster’s underwear provides us with another important forensic clue. The stain was approximately four inches in size.
⁵⁰¹

The government maintains that the stain was the result of spontaneous ejaculation, which does sometimes occur at the moment of death. However, we researched this further and found that spontaneous ejaculation is somewhat rare and generally only occurs from two possible scenarios. Rigor mortis, the hardening process that begins in the body after death, can cause spontaneous ejaculation. It occurs as the result of increasing pressure upon the scrotum which forces out the release of semen. The implication is a relatively small amount, whereas the stain in the victim’s shorts was apparently rather large (a stain of four inches is indicative of a
lot
of semen, especially considering that if it occurred spontaneously at death as the government alleges, then the victim would have been laying supine at the time, not standing).

However, the rigor mortis process begins at two to four hours after death yet does not begin to
manifest
(become active) until at least six hours post-mortem (six to twelve hours after death). Therefore, we can logically deduce that the 4-inch semen stain observed less than six hours after the victim had been dead was in all likelihood not the result of spontaneous ejaculation caused by rigor mortis.

Spontaneous ejaculation can also occur at the moment of death as the result of trauma to the spinal cord. For example, a person who suffers a broken neck, such as in a death by hanging, can experience spontaneous ejaculation. However, that is usually accompanied by bowel and bladder incontinence, meaning they lose control of all bodily functions and release contents at death. Other than a small urine stain, Foster apparently did not suffer bowel and urinary incontinence, nor was his death the result of extreme trauma to the spinal cord.

Therefore, we can conclude with a high degree of probability, that the victim had sexual activity shortly prior to his death which resulted in the four inch semen stain. The obvious question is “With whom?” and the answer is that we do not know. But it does lend a further degree of suspicion to an already extremely suspicious death.

Blonde hairs were also found on the victim—blonde hairs that do not match the victim
or
his wife. No attempt was made to ascertain their origin.

A large purplish wine stain was apparent on the upper front of the victim’s white dress shirt. No official attempt was made to ascertain its origin either. The large stain is dramatically out of keeping with Foster’s history and with the last known image we have of the typical Vince Foster leaving his White House office after a typical morning and lunch. He was very neat—even
fussy
neat—and was certainly not an afternoon drinker, by any stretch of the imagination. Therefore, the stain is highly incongruous with his personal history and yet another indication of possible foul play. Why wasn’t it investigated?

The multi-colored carpet fibers found from head-to-toe on Foster—of
six different colors
—provide an indication that he was somehow immersed in that carpeting; either laying on it, rolling it, or having had his body
wrapped
in it. No search was made for a match. Normally, investigators would search his trunk and car for a match, as well as his home, his office, and surrounding areas. The fact that this was not done is highly suspicious because it would be standard investigatory procedure in a gunshot death. The fact that the fibers recurrently showed six colors should have made it an easy match.

One investigative journalist found evidence that rooms of the White House (bear in mind that Foster’s office was
in
the White House, and no log entry or video recording shows him actually leaving the White House that day, even though it is one of the most secure buildings in the world) were totally re-carpeted in the days following Foster’s death, even though they had been virtually new carpets.

“The Clintons had ordered that one of the White House offices be completely re-carpeted shortly before the death of Vince Foster. The day following his death, a crew of workmen arrived at the White House and completely ripped up and removed what was a nearly brand new carpet. They hastily piled the carpeting into a van and quickly left. The final desti-nation of that carpet and why it was so hastily removed during the chaos and trauma following the death of Foster are mysteries I’ve never been able to solve. However, it strikes me as entirely possible this carpeting was evidence of a crime committed within the White House. Was the carpet bloodstained? Did it contain other forensic clues? In short, is it possible Vince Foster was actually murdered within the White House? The fact that two key videotapes, which would have shown Foster leaving the White House on the day of his death, are both missing. What did they show?”
⁵⁰²

The intrigue thickens when we consider that Foster was planning to resign his position as White House Counsel and even had a private audience appointment scheduled with the President for the following day:

“Vincent Foster’s intention to resign is from his wife’s interview in the New Yorker Magazine. Life After Vince by Peter J. Boyer confirms that Vincent told his wife numerous times he had made a mistake coming to the White House and planned to resign.

That Vince has a private appointment scheduled with Bill Clinton the day after his murder is established White House record.

The unavailability of any logs or videos showing Vince Foster leaving under his own power that day is from the Robert Fiske Investigation into the matter. Ken Starr’s Whitewater probe also confirmed there was no security record of Foster’s departure.”
⁵⁰³

SIGNS OF HOMICIDE

As Crime Scene Investigators know, a “neat” crime scene for a gunshot wound is an indication that either the victim did not die as a result of the gunshot wound, or that the body was moved after death, i.e., what is known as a staged crime scene. Everything about the Vince Foster crime scene hints at staging:

•Blood pooling is the first thing that investigators look for at a gunshot crime scene. The absence of sufficient blood is a huge red flag that the body may have been moved and a murder staged as a suicide. At the site of Foster’s body, there was very little blood when there should have been a massive blood pool, especially from a .38, especially at point-blank range, and especially with high-velocity rounds. It should have poured out in large quantities from both the entrance and exit wounds. Yet even the Fiske Report concedes that “relatively little blood was visible.”

•Homicide experts know it’s physically impossible that a gun as powerful as the Colt Army Special .38 fired into the mouth at point blank range does not splatter blowback of blood and tissue on the victim’s body, clothing, and on the gun itself. The fact that they are all virtually pristine is vivid evidence that it simply did not happen.

•Body was found in a very neat, symmetrical position, face up, arms extended neatly at both sides The first EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) at the scene noticed that it was just too neat to be natural and testified that it was”coffin-like” as though it had been “placed” like that and that he had “just never seen a body lying so perfectly straight after shooting a bullet in his head.” Another officer at the scene also confirmed that the body looked like it had been laid out “ready for a coffin.”

•No fingerprints on the gun is a standard indicator of the obvious possibility that the gun was placed in the victim’s hand by his killers, to stage it as a suicide. A suicide victim would have to handle the weapon several times, transporting it, checking and/or loading it, then firing it. Had he actually shot himself with the gun found in his hand, then his prints should have been all over the weapon, especially on such a hot, humid day. The fact that they were not is an indication that the gun may have been placed in his hand after he was already dead, when the prints would no longer adhere to the gun.

•Gun still in victim’s hand is another standard red flag. The gun is ordinarily “thrown” by the shot, and especially so with a high-velocity weapon like the .38. The first EMT on the scene also testified that the gun just seemed too neatly positioned in the hand next to the body. Note that this fact cannot be explained away by a spasmodic reflex known as “cadaveric spasm” because the officer who removed the gun from Foster’s hand stated that the hand was still pliable, therefore, rigor mortis had not even begun, and cadaveric spasm could not have taken place. Two New York Homicide veterans who examined the evidence stated in their report that in their “combined experience of fifty years of investigating homicides, never seen a ... gun positioned in a suicide’s hand in such an orderly position.”

•Dried blood stains traveled in opposite direction, i.e., they would have had to defy gravity to travel that way in the position the body was ultimately found (a sure sign that they dried while the body was in a different position earlier in time).

•Even though the body was found in a very remote area of the park, the underbrush in that area had been trampled, as though several men had busied themselves with something there.

•Whenever a gunshot victim turns up in a remote location, it is a source of investigative concern. The fact that the location is a remote area of a remote park is not consistent with suicide— there are much easier ways to kill one’s self. There’s no need for a suicide to go to a remote location. It is consistent with the modus operandi of professional hits because they need to make sure that they are unseen when transporting a body.