When Fornshill drove his cruiser (Unit 261) into the FMP parking lot, the FCFRD vehicles (E01 and M01) had just arrived [917]. According to Fornshill, when he arrived at the lot [944], excluding his own vehicle and the two EMS vehicles, there were two to three cars at the far end of the lot [where, officially, only the white Nissan was parked] and a Honda parked closer to the entrance [this apparently was VWF's car]. Were there one or two "extra" vehicles in the FMP parking lot when the USPP and FCFRD first arrived, vehicle(s) that were ignored by the official Reports?

EMS Arthur said he remembered a red car with its hazard lights flashing as his unit, M01, entered FMP [1381,1563].

EMS Hall, in his deposition, also states that there were two or three [civilian] cars in the lot when the EMS units pulled in.

Thus a third witness, in addition to EMS Arthur and USPP Fornshill, indicated he thought there might have been at least one 'extra' car in the parking lot about 1809.

A little more about the "extra" car(s) is known. One of these "extra" vehicles had its engine running according to Hall [1148]. In his FBI interview, Hall described this vehicle as being a brown car in the lot but not parked in a space. Since it was in the lot and brown, it was apparently not the blue Mercedes broken down (hazard lights flashing) near the exit off the GWMP 550 feet away from the lot [see Map V (R) and Appendix V]. According to the official Reports, neither the Nissan or the Honda had their engines running.

Whose vehicle was this and what was it doing in the FMP parking lot? Considering statements made by the Nissan couple and by CW, did this vehicle arrive in the parking lot between 1800 and 1810, after CW has left FMP and while the Nissan couple were sitting out of sight on the southeastern side of FMP away from the parking lot?

Hall did not recall whether the "extra" car was still in the parking lot when the EMS personnel departed the park at about 1837. The vehicle had been unoccupied when he first saw it.

Jennifer Wacha of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue's EMS team arrived at the FMP parking lot in Engine 01 with Ralph Pisani and James Iacone, also of Fairfax EMS [1354], 18 seconds ahead of M01 containing Gonzalez, Hall, and Arthur. USPP Fornshill arrived 94 seconds after MO1. Like EMS Hall, Wacha noticed a car in the parking lot with its engine running (she also noted that its hazard lights were on) [1354].

A fourth witness (four out of a possible seven, so far) sees an "extra" car in the lot.

The identity of this vehicle is unknown since E01 was the first non-civilian vehicle to enter the parking lot and both other vehicles there were exhaustively described as being VWF's Honda and the White Nissan [2504-2505] with MD plates, with no indication that either of their engines was running or their hazard lights were on. Wacha also said she separately remembered VWF's car [1354] in the lot.

Iacone, who arrived on E01 with Wacha and Pisani is still another witness who believed there were three or four civilian automobiles in the lot when E01 arrived, that is one or two "extra" vehicles not accounted for in the official Reports [1358].

The running total has now reached five witnesses out of a possible seven who saw at least one "extra" vehicle in the parking lot when the first officials reached the lot.

What about the remaining two officials who arrived in the FMP parking lot with the first group of seven (6 FCFRD and 1 USPP)? Pisani noticed VWF's Honda [1548] which he described as a light-colored four-door compact sedan with AR plates (observation as he rode into the lot). He did not remark on the Nissan (parked at the far end of the lot), but he did notice a "light-colored vehicle located "at the entrance." This might have been the broken-down Mercedes driven by the female lobbyist (see Appendix V) that was officially accounted for in the Reports.

However, Pisani's statement does not make it clear whether the "extra" vehicle he saw was "at the entrance to the lot" or "at the entrance to FMP" itself (that is, at the beginning of the exit ramp off the GWMP into FMP). If the latter, it could have been the broken-down Mercedes. However, the Mercedes' hazard light were flashing and Pisani did not notice such lights on the "light-colored car" he saw. The author counts Pisani as the sixth out of a possible seven witnesses who saw an "extra" vehicle (that is, a vehicle that "officially speaking" was not in the lot) that afternoon. However, Pisani is a "weak" member of this group at best.

Gonzalez, the last of the seven officials, said there were only two civilian vehicles in the lot when he arrived. He described VWF's Honda and the white Nissan accurately.

Thus, it certainly appears that there was at least one civilian vehicle in the parking lot more than the Reports place there. There is no more information on these one to two additional vehicles in the official record. The official Reports make no attempt to reconcile these witness statements with the Reports' conclusion that the Nissan and VWF's Honda were the only civilian vehicles in the parking lot.

USPP Investigator Cheryl Braun believed that the Honda and the Nissan were the only two civilian vehicles in the lot when she arrived with Investigator John Rolla [559] at, she estimated 1830-1845.

The Fiske Report states that the Honda and the Nissan were the only vehicles in the lot when the FCFRD personnel and USPP Officer Fornshill arrived [204]. Why did the Fiske Report ignore six witness accounts (of varying degrees of certainty and specificity) of at least one "extra" vehicle in the FMP parking lot when the first group of police and emergency personnel arrived?

Was There A Civilian At FMP at About 1812 Who Was Unknown To the Search Teams?

Iacone arrived in the FMP parking lot on E01 with Wacha and Pisani. He thought a civilian, name unknown, directed the northern search team (he was not a member, having gone with the southern team) to the location of VWF's body [1357].

A civilian? If at least one 'extra' vehicle was in the lot per the prior Comment, could this civilian have been the operator of the "extra" vehicle? This report of a civilian who directed USPP Fornshill to the body is all the more interesting given the short time it took USPP Fornshill to locate the body after calling in on arrival at the FMP parking lot.

In an interview with the FBI [1157-1159], Hall stated that he might have seen a car on CBR instead of the (otherwise unaccounted for) person [sic] he mentioned in his deposition [1148] whom he saw near VWF's body. However, the foliage in the park was much thicker on the date of death (July 20, 1993) than when Hall was at FMP for his FBI interview (April 27, 1994), making it less likely (but possible) he saw all the way through to CBR from the body site.

One might be forgiven for wondering how a car driving either way on CBR might be confused with a person moving through the woods near the body site. The author has stood in this position at about the same time of year and time of day and cannot understand how a car (driving along CBR) could possibly be confused with a person moving through the woods near the body site close by the second cannon.

In the words of Hall's FBI interview, "During a cursory search of the area surrounding Foster's body, Hall thought he heard someone else in the woods. What sort of noise was it? A question he was not asked. He subsequently saw something red moving in the woods [1161]."

Something red moving in the woods. Could he have seen one or more persons wearing those international red-orange traffic safety vests? Were the "volunteer" workers on the trails to whom USPP Fornshill referred (see the following Comment) wearing such safety vests? The USPP officers on the scene made no attempt to interview these individuals (assuming Hall did indeed see or hear one or more people).

Hall stated that Pisani and one other member of the FCFRD team (he did not name this individual) thought they saw two males getting dressed in a wooded area adjacent to the site (meaning the site where VWF's body was found) [1387]. These individuals were not interviewed either.

Perhaps the extra vehicle(s), if any actually were there, belonged to one of these two (or three?) persons. Was one of these individuals the 'civilian' that Iacone thought directed the northern search team to the body? Based on the raw evidence in the record, it surely looks as if there were some unaccounted-for people seen near VWF's body just after the FCFRD and USPP personnel arrived at FMP. This thread is not complete yet, however.

Remember the words of the Fiske Report [183]: "Everyone known to have been in Fort Marcy Park on the afternoon or evening of July 20, 1993, also was questioned."

The "Volunteers" At FMP Mentioned By The First USPP Officer To See The Body

When asked if there were any other civilians (excluding the couple in the Nissan) in the park when he arrived, Fornshill stated in his deposition "I was told [By whom? No one asked Fornshill this critical question] later that some persons on, I think it was, they were doing some repair work on a trail, they were on the opposite end of the park. There is a nature hiking trail that I imagine they were doing some work on. . . They were volunteers [917-918]."

This is potentially a very important statement. Fornshill "was told" about these "volunteers" implying he did not also see them himself, although he nonetheless somehow was told they were volunteers working on the park trails. Did these individuals in fact have other duties that afternoon? They were "on the opposite end of the park" but Fornshill was never asked what "end" of the park [northwestern or southeastern] he was referring to. The earthen berm fort lies entirely northwest of the parking lot. VWF's body was officially found near the second cannon at the far northwest corner of the fort.

Numerous witnesses referred to in this report indicated the body was lying on a trail or path to the west of the second cannon (on the northwest side of FMP), for example, see Gonzalez' deposition [1018], Gavin's FBI interview [1553], and Pisani's statement [1361]. Dr. Haut, the Medical Examiner at the scene, also remembers the body lying on a "foot path' [1659,1661] and thought it peculiar that the body was located in the middle of a path. Arthur told the FBI that the body was lying near a path, but not on it, such that "if you were just walking the path you could miss it 1383]." Simonello stated that there was a path that led down [to the west] directly in front of the second cannon and that there was dense vegetation on both sides of the path [628].

CW also refers to the walking path near where he saw the body [2663] and the trampled-down area below the body. Since VWF's body was lying on a trail (indeed, a path that had been recently trampled according to CW's deposition cited above) one would think that volunteer trail workers would have made excellent interview subjects for the investigators at FMP that night. For reasons unknown, this statement of Fornshill's about the "volunteers" was never pursued in the Fiske Report (any more than the numerous other statements about unaccounted-for people near the body and extra cars in the parking lot were considered by the Reports). If any of these workers were interviewed, the interviews were redacted.

Other than the Park Police, the Fairfax County EMS personnel, and the two civilians who had driven into the parking lot well before any officials arrived (the male and female the Nissan with MD plates in the vehicle table), according to USPP Investigator Rolla's testimony there was no one else in the area when he arrived in the parking lot and proceeded to the body site [441]. This is the official consensus of the Reports, exemplified by the USPP Case File and the Fiske Report.

There were never any FBI agents there at FMP nor any individuals that Rolla could not identify [441].

Remember that the Fiske Report states: "Everyone known to have been in Fort Marcy Park on the afternoon or evening of July 20, 1993, also was questioned [183].

One might ask how much stronger an indication of unaccounted-for persons and vehicles is required before that information is considered worth the space in the official Reports to even mention (if not analyze). The USPP does have its own SWAT team available if there is a need to deploy it [783].

The FCFRD Personnel Gather Around VWF's Honda In The FMP Parking Lot

When Iacone returned to the lot after his group of four FCFRD personnel had searched the south side of FMP, he noticed VWF's Honda, which he described as red or maroon in color with AR plates. Iacone and his crew all looked inside the Honda through the windows. Iacone told the FBI that he believes he and Hall tried to open the door of the Honda and found it locked [1358]. EMS Gonzalez had the impression when he checked out the Honda that is was also locked [1027-1028].

This contrasts with USPP information mentioned later in this report that the Honda was always unlocked at the parking lot, with its doors closed, until Rolla or Braun searched it. Since Rolla and Braun did not recover the Honda keys at FMP (see the sub-heading "VWF's Keys [Two Sets] Were Located At The Morgue Hours After He Died" below), if the Honda had been locked, it would have had to have been broken into before anyone could access its interior. An unlocked Honda takes care of that particular problem. Perhaps that is why the indications it was locked received short shrift in the Reports?

In EMS Hall's deposition, there is the following exchange about the Honda "Did you say that anyone tried to open the door while you were there?" A: "No, not by forcible entry, no." [The obvious follow-up question, at least in the author's mind, was not asked: Q: "So, are you saying you saw someone just open the door and go in?"] Q: "Did you know if the car was locked?" A: "I don't recall. I may have." [At this point, the official transcript states "(pause)"]. [Then] Q: "Tell me again what was the position of the head when you first saw the body?" [Clearly, a shift was made to a different line of questioning when Hall "paused."]

Most of the six EMS personnel surrounded the Honda before they left the parking lot. There was plenty of time for them to do so since the USPP officers were gathering their names and unit information for future use [However, strange as it seems, no FCFRD personnel were ever interviewed by the USPP during the its VWF death investigation]. Gonzalez thought someone among the group tried to open the car, but could not do so. "They were just trying [to get into the Honda] themselves. No one asked me, they just went ahead [1033]."

Of course, if this effort to get inside the Honda was successful, then the interior of the Honda was accessed by the FCFRD personnel around 1830, much earlier than the time implicit and explicit in Rolla and Braun's various statements and in the Fiske Report (see the sub-heading, "The Official Search Of VWF's Honda Came Significantly Later Than 1830" below). If they did so, presumably they would have discovered VWF's WH ID in its official position on the front passenger seat.

If the effort was unsuccessful, then the car doors must have been locked, contradicting the official Reports (primarily derived from USPP sources) that the Honda was unlocked.

More On The Suit Jacket's Location

Iacone told the FBI he remembered Hall (the second EMS person to reach the body) remarking that there was a suit coat hanging [sic] inside the Honda.

There is a tendency for the earlier-arriving personnel to believe the suit jacket was hanging in the Honda or folded over the back of the front passenger seat. Later-arriving personnel tend to believe that the jacket was folded and resting on the seat itself as the Fiske Report concludes [210].

Pisani also remembers looking inside VWF's Honda (through the windows), seeing the suit jacket, and assuming it belonged to the dead man 1361].

Was There A Briefcase In VWF's Honda At FMP?

According to his deposition, Gonzalez also saw some sort of "paper attachˇ case" in VWF's Honda [1027]. In his FBI interview, however, this item was described as a black briefcase/attachˇ case 1048].

According to EMS Hall's deposition, he also thought he saw a briefcase in VWF's Honda [1148]. In his FBI interview he is more definite "Also contained in the car was a briefcase [1162]." A fairly succinct statement. The car described was a four-door light blue sedan that also contained a suit jacket matching VWF's suit pants. VWF's Honda was a light gray (Lisa Foster also used the word "taupe") four-door Accord, so Hall's description matches the Honda pretty closely.

When he passed by the Honda on the way back to his cruiser, Fornshill stated in his deposition that he "possibly" saw a briefcase in the Honda. "It doesn't stick in my mind right now [968]."

There is an interesting exchange in Braun's deposition regarding her search of the Honda in which she volunteers that she was not looking for a briefcase in the Honda and, in any event, there was no briefcase in the vehicle [532].

CW also believed he saw a briefcase on the passenger floor of the Honda [1463,1518].

The witness who described the 1988-90 rusty brown Honda in the FMP parking lot (see Appendix V) also saw a briefcase in the vehicle.

At about 1300 [201], VWF left his office holding his suit jacket [The Fiske Report helpfully states he was not carrying a briefcase]. When VWF left his office shortly after 1300, he was not carrying anything with him (no briefcase, per Tripp, just his suit jacket) [1534].

Was there a briefcase in VWF's Honda or not? Five witnesses indicate (with varying degrees of certainty and specificity, conceded) that there was. If so, what did it contain and why did it vanish? Despite the statements of many witnesses (generally speaking, not from the USPP, except for the "possible" sighting by Fornshill, the first USPP officer at the scene), the official Reports do not indicate that there was a briefcase in VWF's Honda. If present at FMP, could the contents of this briefcase be relevant to the presence of senior WH staff in VWF's WH office that very night who were apparently conducting a search of some sort?

Officials Assumed That VWF Killed Himself Even Before the Investigation Started.

USPP Officer Fornshill, the first official to find the body and call it in on his radio was asked about his radio call: Q: "And you said that it appeared to be a suicide based on what?" A: Based on the determination the person was dead [923]."

[Fornshill continues, trying to make a clarification: "Again, my assumption from the paramedic and that the gun was found in his hand, which is what the paramedic told me." Fornshill is clear throughout the record that he never saw the gun in VWF's hand. As the reader might expect, this topic will be turned to in detail below. Fornshill was the first official to discover the body, making his failure to see the gun, clearly visible in the photocopied picture in Appendix III, of great interest.]

Ferstl, the USPP officer whose beat that day included FMP, informed USPP Investigator Rolla upon Rolla's arrival in the FMP parking lot that a body had been found at the "second cannon," [150] with a gun in the hand, an apparent suicide [78]." USPP Officer Julie Spetz and USPP Officer Ferstl were the second and third officers on the scene [1597], arriving at about the same time in separate cars, both having departed from Glen Echo Station.

After confirming the person was dead, and having packed up the EMS equipment, Gonzalez returned to the parking lot and transmitted "Obvious. . . Suicide with gun [1045]" prior to departing the lot at about 1837.

The "suicide verdict" was thus reached very early by both the first USPP officer on scene and the lead EMS Sergeant Gonzalez [1045], with the USPP evaluation being the more tentative one.

USPP Investigator Braun's deposition further reveals the mind set that prevailed from a time immediately after the body was found by Fornshill. (The news of his discovery was transmitted by Fornshill to the USPP communications center at 1814:32 (162 seconds after reaching the parking lot) when he requested that the Criminal Investigations Branch be sent to FMP [2252]):

Q: "When did you first hear the word 'suicide' in Fort Marcy Park [522-523]?"

A: "When -- when we saw, I guess Sergeant Edwards." [The fourth or fifth USPP officer to arrive at the site; the fifth or fourth was Lt. Gavin, the USPP shift commander.]

Q: "Did he say he thought the death was by suicide?"

A: "I don't recall exactly how he did it, and he did show the pictures [sic] to it that he had snapped."

Q: "Was it your understanding that a determination had been made as to the cause of death?

A: "I think we [the USPP investigators] more made that determination. You know, like I said, when we first got the call it was for a dead body. Then I asked [Fornshill] if it was natural or of a suspicious nature. And I was told suspicious, so I had them close the gate.

Then once we [Rolla, Braun, and Apt, the three USPP Investigators] got there [at about 1835], maybe actually I do remember speaking to Lieutenant Gavin [the USPP shift commander who reached the body well before his own investigators], so maybe it was Lieutenant Gavin who might have -- it might have been Lieutenant Gavin then who actually initially explained what the scene was, because I had some knowledge of it when I went to speak with the couple [the ones in the MD Nissan] and ask them if they had heard anything or seen anything and ask them about other vehicles that were in the area. Yeah, I would say it was Lieutenant Gavin, actually."

Q: "Did Lieutenant Gavin mention anything about suicide?" A: "I can't recall. I don't -- I don't recall if he did or not or if that was what we -- it seems to me that we had made that determination [that the death was a suicide] prior to going up and looking at the body."

The author hopes the reader will not think the hypothesis that the death was considered a suicide and investigated as such from the beginning is a "stretch" based on the evidence cited in this Comment! In fact, the team of investigators (three of them: Braun, Rolla, and Apt) were briefed by their shift commander and a sergeant in the parking lot, and the decision was made (before the investigators even saw the body!) to investigate the death as a suicide (subject, at best, only to the real-time discovery of evidence that blatantly indicated the death could not possibly have been a suicide). The failure to discover the Honda keys anywhere in the park constituted such evidence.

Note that neither Lt. Gavin nor Sergeant Edwards were ever interviewed or deposed concerning the briefing given Investigator Braun (and possibly also to Investigator Rolla).

Where Was VWF's Body Located At FMP?

Officially, VWF's body was just to the west of the second cannon with his head 14 feet 3 inches west of the axle of the second cannon [1905], lying face up on the northern end of the western berm of the Fort itself, on the outer berm slope [see Map IV, Map V (R)]. The second cannon is located much closer to CBR than the "first" cannon [103].

USPP Officer Ferstl, whose "beat" included FMP, arrived at FMP at about 1830 [1628,2121], or slightly before that time, and was the second USPP officer on the scene after Fornshill. According to the Fiske Report "One path from the parking lot leads up to two cannons dating from the Civil War [204]."

This is misleading.

Anyone visiting the park will note a semi-circular path arcing across the northwestern side of the parking lot, starting at both ends of the lot [see Map V (R)]. However, this path does not continue as one walks northwest and enters the first clearing within the Fort itself northwest of the parking lot [see Map V (R)].

There are no paths to guide anyone searching for a body near either one of the cannons, although there is a short trail that leads up the western berm in front of the barrel of the second cannon [1018] and some other trails in various states of repair within FMP (generally outside the perimeter of the Fort). The author bases these statements on his visits to FMP and on aerial imagery flown on April 7, 1993.

USPP Investigator Rolla provided one of the most detailed descriptions of the body's location "The hill, berm or embankment was dirt, there was [sic] other leaves and grass around him, but it wasn't like a pathway, it was too steep. You would break your neck walking down there, but yes, there was dirt, leaves, flies [421]."

Earlier in his deposition, Rolla gave another description of the location "I observed very thick foliage, trees, branches around him also. There was almost like a very steep embankment, it was dirt, but no grass or anything on it, but on the sides of it, and the bottom was broken branches, and like a gully [390-391]."

Although some allowance might be made for the alleged sifting of the soil by the FBI [222-223] in its search for the bullet, the steepness of the berm described by Rolla ("you could break you neck walking down there. . . the bottom was broken branches, and like a gully" and the lack of a true pathway corresponds more closely (in steepness, and considering the reference to a gully) to an area some yards west of the first cannon, at the western end of the southern berm and near the southern end of the western berm of the Fort where there are some steep narrow pathways leading down from the berms [see generally, Maps IV and V (R)].

Dr. Haut, the Fairfax County Medical Examiner who appeared at FMP about 1845 (see the Comment later) told the FBI the body was located about 150 yards from the parking lot [1659]. This is only about 60% of the over-the-ground distance from the parking lot to the official body site near the second cannon (some 775 feet).

However, this 150 yard estimate of Dr. Haut's jibes rather nicely with the distance from the parking lot to a specific area a few yards west of the first cannon: the over-the-ground distance from the parking lot to this area on the southern berm a few yards past the first cannon was estimated by the author from aerial imagery to be 470 feet before he read Dr. Haut's FBI statement.

The area along the southern berm several yards to the west of the first cannon is known as the location Reporter Chris Ruddy [1118] believes was the spot where the body was actually found based on his early 1994 interviews with numerous FCFRD and USPP personnel who were in the park that night [1118-1138; see Map V (R) where this approximate location is marked]. There is a shallow depression in this particular area at the top of the southern berm that Mr. Ruddy's work indicates is where VWF's body was recovered by the USPP and FCFRD personnel the evening of July 20, 1993.

[The first cannon was removed by the Park Service some months after VWF's death, but the permanent mounting peg for the cannon's "tail" is still in the park, per the author's observations in June 1995. The author's April 7, 1993, aerial imagery shows the first and second cannon with a resolution of several inches or somewhat less.]

Was Dr. Haut's estimate of 150 yards reasonably accurate? If so, the body, when viewed by Dr. Haut, was not in front of the barrel of the second cannon and reinforces the conclusion of Reporter Chris Ruddy. The author has some conjectures that could explain the discrepancies in the location of the body by the Fiske Report (and by CW) and the location of the body that Chris Ruddy believes is the correct one.

This conjecture is one of the ones specifically omitted from this report as too speculative (see the Introduction). Another report, another day. Note that the author is not branding Chris Ruddy's work as "speculative." The author is simply saying his own hypothesis that attempts to reconcile the location of the body in the Fiske Report (and as reported by CW) with the location suggested by Chris Ruddy is somewhat too speculative for inclusion here.

Rolla thought the GWMP ran north-south by FMP [1440], but it in fact runs northwest-southeast [440] [see Map V (R)]. Rolla testified that the body's feet were to the west and the head to the east, even though he (or Simonello -?- [639]) apparently made a drawing [2441?] that may show the body lying in a north-south direction [440]. This matters since a body lying head to the north and feet to the south would be lying on the southern, not the western berm. If the body was actually found on the southern berm, the theory of the death put forth in the Fiske Report is in deep yogurt.

There also exists a "diagram of the death scene" that was drawn during the course of the USPP investigation, apparently a detailed drawing done by an ID Technician [1301]. If this drawing is present in the record, it is not obvious where it is located either.

Rolla believes he took a Polaroid of the second cannon at FMP, looking generally westerly from a position east of the second cannon [441]. There is such a Polaroid in the Polaroid inventory [2112], but the one listed was taken by Sergeant Edwards. A very poor reproduction that appears to be of this photo by Edwards appears in the record [2392]. What happened to the Polaroid that Rolla took? There will be a discussion below concerning numerous Polaroids taken by various USPP officers that went missing.

Simonello, who arrived at FMP at about 1830 [1589], but after Rolla and Braun, agrees that the body was located at the second cannon [628] as does EMS Gonzalez [989] and essentially every one else in the park that night who claimed to be either knowledgeable enough or observant enough to express an opinion. The Fiske Report concurs: The body was found a few feet in front of (to the west of) the second cannon.

The USPP Locates The Body

When USPP Fornshill, the official who first found the body, located it, he advised his communications center by radio [923] that he had come upon an apparent suicide and called out to the two emergency medical workers [EMS Gonzalez and EMS Hall] who had been searching the northern half of the park with him.

The USPP Officer Who Found The Body Leaves FMP After An Extremely Short Stay

Very shortly after finding the body, around 1820, Officer Fornshill was relieved by Officer Ferstl (the relief was approved by Sergeant Edwards, his supervisor, who was also on scene) [923-925], and Fornshill returned to the CIA where his duties were to constitute a uniformed presence at the exit gates during rush hour (it was apparently critical that he return to his CIA gate about 1835, well after peak traffic at this CIA gate).

According to Fornshill, he estimates he was relieved less than ten minutes after he originally arrived in the parking lot [952] (in response to the 911 calls).

This is an incredibly short period of time in which to join the northern search team, coordinate the northern search effort, search the area thoroughly, especially the area around the first cannon [the searchers saw this cannon first since it is in plain view from the central area of the fort], find the body near the second cannon (over 750 feet from the parking lot), make sure the body was in fact dead in consultation with Gonzalez and Hall, be relieved by Ferstl after getting the approval of Sergeant Edwards, return 750 feet to the parking lot, observe the contents of VWF's Honda, and leave FMP. A busy "less than ten minutes [952]." As it turns out, Fornshill did other things as well.

This was a short stay for the officer who volunteered to respond to the 911 call regarding a body in FMP since the beat officer, Officer Ferstl, was temporarily occupied. In the author's opinion (and it is that and no more), along about 1800, the exit traffic at the CIA was winding down and, naturally enough, USPP Fornshill was ready for something more exciting than watching CIA day shift workers leave for home on a late hot July afternoon, so, when he heard the radio call about a body in the park, he volunteered to check it out. His radio request seeking permission to do so was approved, the "cop on the beat" being temporarily otherwise engaged, and Fornshill, having taken the initiative, "rolled" on the call.

Contrast this johnny-on-the-spot initiative with Officer Fornshill's stated desire to return to his gate at the CIA so quickly (even though he wouldn't have been able to get back to it until 1830-1835, hardly a peak time for exit traffic at the CIA).

While they were en route to FMP, the USPP Investigators (Rolla, Braun, and Apt) had Fornshill close the gate to the park at the exit on the GWMP after he found the body [496]. He was still the only USPP officer on the scene per the record, although Ferstl, Spetz, Edwards, and Gavin were to arrive shortly.

As described above, USPP Fornshill spent less than ten minutes in total at FMP that day. Since he had to close the gate to FMP (down by the GWMP) in additional to his other activities within his stated time frame, the author wonders how he managed to close the gate and return to the body (to be relieved by USPP Ferstl with the approval of USPP Sergeant Edwards, according to Fornshill's evidence) on top of everything else.

The round trip distance-over-the-ground from the official body site to the gate down at the GWMP and back measured by the author (from aerial imagery) is about 2500 feet. Moving at four miles an hour (a brisk walk; the victim had been located and had been found to be dead, so there was no need to run), this round trip would alone require about seven of Fornshill's "less than ten minutes" in total at FMP.

USPP Officer Ferstl isolated the body site itself with crime scene tape [1629] immediately on seeing the body, but to do so he had to return to his police cruiser for the tape and Fornshill was still present at the body when he returned.

If Fornshill stayed at the body site while Ferstl made the 1400+ foot round trip to the parking lot and back with the crime scene tape, it appears all the more likely Fornshill could not have done all the things he did at FMP and left within the less than ten minute time period he stated. Did he do fewer things, did he stay longer than ten minutes, or did someone else assist him?

In this context, FCFRD Iacone's belief that an unknown civilian directed Fornshill and the rest of the northern search team (Gonzalez and Hall) to the body [1357] is of particular interest.

Is there any reason Fornshill would have to leave FMP so soon after he found the body [watching traffic dribble out of the CIA lot at 1835 does not sound like a convincing reason in the author's opinion, but there must have been a good reason. What was it?]

The searchers had no idea where the body was in FMP since they had no idea where the cannons were [884] or even how many cannon there were. Nevertheless, the search was quite short.

The USPP Communications Memo Contained In The Record

A USPP communications memo indicates that Fornshill advised that he had arrived at the parking lot at 1811:50 [2252]. Fornshill's estimate that he was at FMP a total of less than ten minutes cannot be radically off since he had departed by the time USPP Investigators John Rolla and Cheryl Braun had arrived in the parking lot about 1835 [385,2123], or possibly five or ten minutes later, according to Investigator Braun's estimate.

Even though no one had any idea where the cannons were or how many there were and the park consists of a number of open spaces surrounded by trees with the body officially located at the extreme northwest side of the fort some 750 feet away from the parking lot, Fornshill called in at 1814:32 that the body had been found, 2 minutes and 42 seconds after he arrived in the parking lot [2252].

Note that the communications memo in question was handwritten to Gavin, the shift commander, the night the body was found (and written in response to a request to provide Gavin with a record of the times of relevant USPP FMP radio calls and the subject of those calls), so the times therein should be quite accurate.

Even if no time is allowed to assemble the search team of three that searched the northern half of the park at a trot, and even if it is assumed that Fornshill called in on his radio the very second he spotted the body, 2 Minutes and 42 seconds is a very short search!

How was Fornshill able to find the body so quickly? Was FCFRD Iacone correct in his belief that a civilian directed USPP Fornshill to the body [1357]? Who was this individual and why was his existence not considered or even mentioned in the official Reports, especially since there is ample other evidence that there were "unaccounted for" individuals in the park late that afternoon?

Fornshill's locating the body so quickly is as difficult for the author to comprehend as the laundry list of items above that USPP Fornshill accomplished at FMP in less than ten minutes. It is certainly true that one could trot directly to the second cannon from the parking lot in about 90 seconds if one headed right to it, but that was clearly not what he did, according to Fornshill's statements in the record.

The author stated in the Introduction that reasonable people will differ. In the interest of full disclosure, the person recognized in the acknowledgments as DCMB (familiar with the fort itself) did not think it particularly unusual that the body could have been found 2 minutes 42 seconds after Fornshill arrived in the parking lot. [DCMB is also more of an athlete, has longer legs, and is generally in better shape than the author, so those may be considerations as well.]

There were three individuals searching the northerly half of the park, after all. Key considerations are the time USPP Fornshill spent (if any) in the lot before departing with (or catching up to) Gonzalez and Hall, the time needed to "search thoroughly" in the vicinity of the first cannon, and for Fornshill to move (alone) to the vicinity of the second cannon and finally, the interval between seeing the body and making his radio call announcing its discovery.

Fornshill indicates he went into the northern half (actually northwest half) of the park with two EMS workers, one named Gonzalez [the other was EMS Hall; 988]. The large open area where the first cannon is located was "thoroughly searched." After doing so, he moved to the right and discovered a quasi-hidden clearing with a second cannon and located the body [918].

The area around the first cannon contains a number of steep trails going down either the southern berm or the southern end of the western berm of the Fort. Searching all these go-downs "thoroughly" would be more than a couple of minutes work in the author's opinion [the first cannon has since been removed by the Park Service, but the permanent "peg" for the cannon's tail is still there, per the author's visit to FMP in June 1995].

The two cannon are not visible from each other. Based on his aerial imagery, the author estimates that these two cannon were about 270 feet apart (line-of-sight distance).