Some of the more striking facts and witness statements extracted directly from the official record are below. The citations allowing the reader to locate the evidence described in, and quotations copied from, the official record are in this report along with the supporting detail. This report also contains some analysis of the facts in the record, but the list below is of factual data taken directly from the official record and gives readers a taste of the matters discussed in detail in the body of this report.
The author believes that these items will be a great shock to most readers because they are so damaging to the conclusions about Mr. Foster's death contained in The US Park Police Report, The Fiske Report, and The 1994 Senate Report Volume. Facts such as these have caused the few people at least somewhat familiar with the raw data justifiably to question the processes that controlled the prior investigations of Mr. Foster's death. The author believes that the death of Mr. Foster may be the "thin edge of the wedge" that, if examined carefully and without guile, will demonstrate the need for fundamental reform at the Federal level.
The author hopes the information in this report will allow those that have, until now, heard only selected information from the official Reports (and only after that information was, in turn, culled by the media), to understand why some people believe there is more to Mr. Foster's death than meets the eye. There is certainly more to his death than meets the casual and superficial glance that has been provided by the mainstream media!
The first official to discover Foster's body, a US Park Police officer, was quite clear that he never saw the gun. His testimony on this point is repetitive and quite clear. He was a few feet from the gun for several minutes, but he says he never saw it. The Fiske Report ignores this fact.
Two civilian witnesses, interviewed about the vehicles they saw in the parking lot, describe a vehicle that could only have been Mr. Foster's Honda. They saw individuals around this car: the hood was up, one individual was standing by the Honda, and the other was sitting in it some 30 minutes before Mr. Foster's body was found. The descriptions of these individuals make it impossible that either of them was Mr. Foster. The official Reports say these two individuals have no connection with Mr. Foster or simply ignore them completely.
A civilian witness told the FBI that, for reasons unknown, information, which she had previously provided to US Park Police investigators, had not been correctly recorded in her US Park Police interview report.
Six of the seven US Park Police and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department personnel who responded to the 911 calls told the FBI (with varying degrees of certainty and specificity) that there was at least one "extra" civilian vehicle in the parking lot when they arrived at Fort Marcy, a vehicle that the official Reports either ignore or treat as completely irrelevant.
The Report concluding Mr. Foster's death investigation by determining the death was a suicide was signed before the US Park Police had taken the time to confirm that the gun Mr. Foster is said to have used could actually fire a shot.
The US Park Police officer who found Foster's body described the presence of "volunteers" who were in the park when the body was found. He said these volunteers were working on the park trails. None of these "volunteers" was ever named, interviewed, or mentioned in the official Reports, though Mr. Foster's body was found lying on a pathway that a witness insisted to the FBI had clearly been recently disturbed.
Five civilian and government witnesses at the park that afternoon stated (with varying degrees of certainty and specificity) that there was a briefcase in the Honda. This briefcase is not mentioned in the Reports (other than to state it was not at Fort Marcy Park), even though there is allegedly great interest in the fate of Mr. Foster's White House papers on the part of the Senate Special Whitewater Committee.
The lead US Park Police Investigator at Fort Marcy stated: "It seems to me that we made that determination [that the death was a suicide] prior to going up and looking at the body." The senior EMS Sergeant at the scene reported "Obvious suicide. . . with gun" 25 minutes after he arrived at the park.
The US Park Police crime scene perimeter extended over 1,000 feet from the body in some directions. However, the lead US Park Police Investigator at Fort Marcy was not aware that the park entrance closest to the body, or an old road on the western border of the park, existed. Access to the body site from these directions was therefore not sealed off.
The lead Emergency Medical Services representative at Fort Marcy who called in the suicide report for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and examined the body at the scene stated that the hand holding the gun was palm down. He had no idea why he was later shown crime scene photos depicting the hand palm up.
The lead US Park Police Investigator at the body site reported that the palms were up. This conflicts with the one crime scene photo leaked to the media. That photo shows the right hand palm down with the hand holding a revolver.
The Report of the only Medical Doctor to examine the body in place at Fort Marcy is, for reasons unknown, not a part of the record. This Medical Examiner told the FBI he arrived and departed Fort Marcy an hour before the official Reports say he did.
The Fiske Report: "Those present observed a large pool [sic] of blood located on the ground where Foster's head had been." The Fiske Report: [the doctor who examined the body in place at Fort Marcy] "Observed a large exit wound in the back of the skull." However, the doctor told the FBI that the blood volume was "small" and what blood there was had "matted and clotted." The lead Investigator had this to say about the head wound he observed: "I still can't believe the hole -- it's a small hole. . . I probed his head there was no big hole there. . . I initially thought the bullet might still be in his head." The Reports ignore these statements.
The experienced Evidence Technician who took the 35-mm crime scene photos reported that none of these photos were usable because they were underexposed. The camera he used was never tested to determine why these pictures were no good.
Mr. Foster's glasses were found 19 feet down slope from his head. The Fiske Report stated that they must have "bounced" there (through heavy vegetation) due to a gunshot to the mouth.
The doctor who performed the autopsy stated that he took no X-rays of the body. The US Park Police report, produced because it sent four observers the autopsy, stated however, that the doctor conducting the autopsy told the US Park Police Detective in attendance that "X-rays indicated that there was no evidence of bullet fragments in the head."
The second US Park Police officer at the second took seven Polaroids of the body. The Polaroids he took are not among the thirteen of the body that are inventoried in the record. The record contains no explanation why they vanished.
The lead US Park Police Investigator at the body site had this to say about some of the Polaroids he took: "I know I took Polaroids of that. I am not sure how many I took, but I don't recall seeing those Polaroids again. I mean I had them at the office that night, I did reports, and I know what happened. . . I don't have those photos. I put them in a [US Park Police case] jacket. . . and I don't know what happened." The Polaroids he is speaking of are not inventoried in the record. The record contains no explanation why they vanished.
The lead US Park Police Investigator at the body site searched for a suicide note, identification documents, or other items in the victim's pockets. The investigator found no car keys on the body. No car keys were found in Mr. Foster's Honda either. Why wasn't the death immediately treated as a homicide as soon as the investigators realized their suicide theory required the decedent to have driven himself to the park without using his car keys?
As soon as the investigators realized there were no car keys to be found, rather than search the Honda again or search the area where the body had been found (his glasses had, after all been found 19 feet from his head), they drove to the morgue and searched the body's pockets one more time. There, the investigators not only discovered they had missed Mr. Foster's personal key ring in the right front pants pocket (with his car keys), but also found his White House keys on a separate key ring that held a high-security type key. Did this search of the body took place before or after the body was also visited at the morgue that night by White House staffers?
The only paper in Mr. Foster's wallet at Fort Marcy that the lead investigator at the body site considered "unusual" was never explained in the official Reports. It contains groups of initials that correspond to the President, the First Lady, and to their daughter. It contains a variety of dates and numerical amounts along with several Arkansas city names. Mr. Foster was known to be involved with the formation of blind trusts for all the Clinton family. The private attorney involved talked with him the day before Mr. Foster died and tried to reach him the next day a few minutes after Mr. Foster left the White House for the last time.
The Fiske Report and the gun: "When shown the gun, Foster's sister, Sharon Bowman, identified it as appearing very similar to the one their father had kept in his bedside table, specifically recalling the pattern on the grip." However, Lisa Foster, in the words of the report of her interview said: "Not the gun she thought it must be. Silver, six gun, large barrel." The gun officially found in Mr. Foster's right hand at Fort Marcy was a dark-colored gun per the photographs of it in the record. Per Sharon Bowman's interviewer: "I asked if she remembered any other features [other than the web-like detailing on the grip mentioned in the Fiske Report quote above]. She did not." The Fiske Report statement is misleading.
Despite the official conclusion that financial concerns had no role in Mr. Foster's death, the family checking account had been overdrawn for the two or three weeks prior to his death. The credit union had shifted from "working with" the Fosters on a "bi-weekly" to a "weekly" basis the week before he died. Mr. Foster visited the credit union the day before he died.
To support its conclusion that Vince Foster was under great stress, The Fiske Report states that "It was obvious to many that he had lost weight" in the months before his death. Medical reports in the record show that he actually gained weight in the six months prior to his death. A Fairfax Country Fire and Rescue Department worker observed the US Park Police "gaining access" to Mr. Foster's Honda (his White House ID was on the front seat) before 6:37 PM. The White House position is that it was not informed of Mr. Foster's death until 8:30 PM. Another Fairfax County emergency worker said it was known within his group (that left the park at 6:37 PM) that Mr. Foster was employed at the White House.
The Fiske Report refers to the lack of damage done to Mr. Foster's teeth and the soft tissues of his mouth by the barrel of the gun in support of the official suicide theory (Mr. Foster presumably must have put the gun into his mouth voluntarily since there were no signs of a struggle). However, the Fiske Report does not mention the damage that should have been done to the soft tissues and teeth from the powerful recoil of the Army Special Colt .38 Revolver (and its unusually high front sight). The recoil must have been sizable since it carried Mr. Foster's right arm away from his mouth and forced it neatly down by his side.
A US Park Police Investigator at the body site somehow knew to write the name of a US Secret Service uniformed officer and his White House Phone number (in Room 058 in the White House basement) in his investigator's notebook, apparently around 6:40 PM. However, according to official Reports, the US Park Police itself did not learn of Mr. Foster's White House connection for at least another hour, probably an hour-and-a-half. The official position (in a Secret Service memo) is that the White House did not learn about the Mr. Foster's death until 8:30 PM.
Several Fairfax Country Fire and Rescue Department personnel state that the Honda was locked when they examined its exterior (and viewed the interior through the windows) sometime before 6:35 PM. The official Reports indicate that the Honda was found unlocked well over an hour later when it was "officially" searched for the first time. No one on the investigation knew where the Honda keys were during this interval, so these keys could not have been used to unlock the car during this period of time.
The Fiske Report states that the body was bagged back by the second cannon at Fort Marcy Park at about 8:45 PM before being transported the 750 feet to the parking lot and then taken on a 15-minute trip to the Fairfax County Hospital. The ambulance log indicates the body arrived at the hospital 15 minutes before the Fiske Report says the body was put in a body bag up by the second cannon at Fort Marcy. Times given by the doctor who pronounced Mr. Foster dead at the hospital corroborate the ambulance log, not the Fiske Report. Furthermore, the Medical Examiner told the FBI he arrived at Fort Marcy an hour before the Fiske Report says he did. The Medical Examiner told the FBI that Mr. Foster's White House connection was known to those in the park while he was on the scene.
In the words of the FBI interview of the only doctor who examined the body at Fort Marcy, the doctor "believed the wound was consistent with a 'low-velocity weapon.'" The revolver, especially with the high-velocity ammunition the Fiske Report said Mr. Foster used, is not a "low velocity weapon." How does the Fiske Report reconcile the doctor's statement in the Report? The doctor's statement is not mentioned in the Report at all.
Are These Kinds Of Discoveries Sufficient To Cause A Reasonable Person To Question Fundamental Conclusions Of A Death Investigation Or Not?