3 ow hatinte samnty antapenenn sah Se ee ae (fostoasectoa7] | | ee) rr cn J me are | 7 January 1975 MEMORANDUM FOR: O/DDO (Attn: Mr. SUBJECT : German Magazine At to Tie Howard Hunt/ Frank Sturgis to the Dallas Assassination of President Kennedy 1. Recent publicity against CIA in the U.S. has stimu- lated the German weekly Der Stern to intensify previous efforts to tie Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis to the Dallas assasSination of President Kennedy .< According to&-(CASHAKER/1, a cooperative 6enior editor of Stern,) the magazine plans to fly reporter Gérd Heidemann to Dallas about 9 January for interviews. The reporter working on the story at Stern, Frank Heigl, claims to be in touch with "dissident CIA staffers who were forced out after Dallas." Heigl sup- posedly picked up these contacts in Ankara and Frankfurt. 2. In October 1974, Der Stern paid Dallas photographer Jack Beers $1,000 for copies of pictures he had taken of persons being led away by the police from the book depost- tory after the assassination of President Kennedy. The naga- zine was attempting to identify Watergate defendants Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis with persons shown in the Dallas photographs to build up a story implying Hunt (and by inference CIA) involvement in the assassination. To buttress this conjecture, the magazine hired Professor Rainer Knuss- mann of the Anthropological Institute of the University of Hamburg to do a "scientific" comparison of the Dallas photos with stock shots of Hunt and Sturgis. His findings are that there is a high probability that Hunt and Sturgis could be identical with two persons shown in the Dallas snapshots and that the matter should be pursued further. A summary translation of the Knussmann findings is attached. ief, Attachment: _As Stated, Herewith E2 IMPDET CL BY 057018 re od
74-00000 ~ . Officially Registered Court Prof. Dr. Rainer Knussmann Expert for Hereditary Biology ° Examining Laboratory Duesseldorf, Markenstr. § TRANSLATION TO: The Editorial Board of the STERN ATTENTION: Frank P. Heigl 2 Hamburg 1 Pressehaus SUBJECT: Personnel Identification "Watergate" (Your reference Number FPH/RAD) Dear Herr Heigl: I refer to our conversation of 29/10/74 and your written assignment of 5/11/74 and set forth in the following the principles of poly-symptomatic resemblance analysis based on ANTHROPOLOGICAL IDENTITY EVALUATION whether the persons, Frank Stergis and Howard Hunt are identical to persons shown in comparative photographs. A. Introduction 1.- Material 7 7 With your letter of. 5/11/74 a-total -of-47 - photographs in different formats and differing sharpness were Sent me. After telephone re-querying with Frau Radiziwill#* 9 further photos were sent to me. I have designated the back sides, lower left, of these 56 shots with green symbols and with numbers where different snapshots were in question. I added small letters in cases where different enlargements of detail from the same snapshot were involved. In the following report I will refer to these designations of the photos. (Comment: the total report is 37 pages, of which only the introduction and conclusion were provided. The translation commences -.With page 35) * Secretary at STERN. .
14-00000 & _ . ° ° e e a eo. * * « 2 . "oe . 7 . . * a . . . d. Conclusions The given question about the identity c of Stergis and Hunt with the two designated persons on the Death Site (DS) pictures can only be answered clearly to. the extent that a firm identity denial is not possible from the photographic documentation placed at my disposal. In this connection there is a noticeable discrepancy in the amount of protrusion of the ear in the photos of the man who could be Hunt which, however, fails by far to be suf- ficient for a sure negative identification. In all, the resemblance analysis with respect to both persons led to a clear majority of positive resemblance factors, which above al] for Stergis were in part very convincing. Since it concerned a clearly estab- lished similiarity in relatively rare distinguishing marks. Because of the indifferent quality of the source photos which handicaps a scientific comparison and because of unsimiliarities which cropped up in the course of the analysis--though these were nearly all of minor nature is: .--the total result is not adequate for the establishment of an zosolutely sure identity. Such a result from photo materials such as were furnished me is in principle very diffic.1t to achieve. The symptoms of identity neverthe- less are so convincing that it must be advised in any case that the material be pursued further. A successful identity establishment could truly be expected if photos of Stergis pot and Hunt, which should be- obtainable, were prepared showing . the subjects from the same head angle and under similiar lighting as in DS photos. \ The probable identity from the resemblance analysis i: is given a special weight because the margin of error is Significantly reduced when both Hunt and Stergis are analyzed in combination. This is on the common sense ground that while an accidental resemblance between Stergis or Hunt ‘on the one side and one of the persons shown in the DS pictures would be understandable, there is a very narrow probability that Stergis accidentally resembles one and Hunt accidentally - the other of both persons shown in the DS photos. Possibly what is finally expected of me is a precise probability quotient for the possible identity of Stergis and. _* Hunt with-.the:questioned.persons on the DS-pictures. Such a numerical probability estimate can certainly be produced by mathematics, but would show a false exactness. However, to give a preliminary evaluation I estimate that the positive resemblance between Stergis and the questioned person #1 in
74-0000 7 the DS photos has a probability of 0.1 (10% error, that is -90% for an identity). The similiar value for Hunt being person #2 I estimate at 0.3 (that is 30% chance of error and 70% probability of identity). From this a theoretical error probability for the combined results figures at only 0.03 (that is 3%, therefore, 97% probability). In closing I should like to assure you that in prepa- ration of this evaluation I have taken pains to work according to the best conscience and knowledge without any political presumptions. I hope I have served you with my evaluation > and send you my sincere respects. Professor Dr. R. Knussmann (ip Brennan oe creer te i RESETS 7 SLES YT CA rear PEro->vPeR tahoe art vangureeenes nso reaneepaetnnintentis ete tremens: nevearoerearnn ee | :