Linda Kay Willis (born July 20, 1949) was a close witness during the assassination of

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

. When the assassination started, she was located to the left of

President Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

's presidential limousine on the south side of Elm Street, directly in front of the

Texas School Book Depository The Texas School Book Depository, now known as the Dallas County Administration Building, is a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The building was Lee Harvey Oswald's vantage point during the assassination of United Sta ...

. In the

Zapruder film The Zapruder film is a silent 8mm color motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder with a Bell & Howell home-movie camera, as United States President John F. Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November ...

, she was seen wearing a blue coat and a long gold skirt. Willis testified to the

Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States Pr ...

in 1964 that she remembered hearing three shots, with the last two shots bunched much closer together than the first two shots. Specifically, she also testified that the assassination started when President Kennedy was already waving (his waving motion does not start until Zapruder film frame 174) when she heard the first shot (from Z-165 through Z-208, the president was hidden by a large oak tree from the view of anyone located in the Warren Commission lone snipers lair). Like many

Dealey Plaza Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; 30 minutes after the shooting ...

witnesses, the first shot she remembered hearing sounded like a firecracker to her. She said that this first shot hit President Kennedy because she saw the president immediately (and almost simultaneously) raise up both his arms and clench his fists in front of his throat as a result of the first shot that she remembered. Willis stated that she did not know where the second shot that she remembered hearing came from or went to. She said that it was the third shot that she remembered that hit President Kennedy in his head. In 1978, Willis told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that she "had a distinct impression that the head wound to President Kennedy was a result of a front-to-rear shot" when she saw his head "blow up." In her 1989 video interview for ''

The Men Who Killed Kennedy ''The Men Who Killed Kennedy'' is a video documentary series by British television network ITV that depicts the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Originally broadcast in 1988 in two parts (with a subsequent st ...

'' documentary, Willis stated that when she saw the president's head explode in blood that she saw brain matter come out the back of the president's head, so, the head shot must have been fired from the front of President Kennedy. Willis stated to assassination researcher and author Richard Trask (''Pictures of the Pain'' 1994) that after the assassination, she and her sister

Rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

also saw someone find a piece of the president's head that had landed in the grass located at least to the left of the president. After the assassination, Willis, along with her sister, father (

Phillip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

) and mother ( Marilyn), were present at the

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

photographic laboratory getting her father's assassination-related photo slides developed when the Zapruder film was first developed and first shown.

Sources

Warren Commission; Witness Testimony; Volume 7, Page 498, Linda Kay Willis Testimony

External links

* * ttp://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/film/Zapruderstable.mov An Image-stabilized Version of the Zapruder Film, Running in a LoopUsers must initially wait a few seconds for the first QuickTime version to download, after which the film runs continuously
Details and Zapruder frames showing the Rosemary Willis rapid headsnap towards the grassy knoll
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Linda Willis, Linda Kay Living people Witnesses to the assassination of John F. Kennedy