Is it really a viable proposition that more than one person was involved in the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968? To answer this question, the only reliable way to approach this would be to examine the ballistics evidence in the turnout that night and the details in the Department of Justice Report. We know that only one of the Rambler doors was open when investigators arrived on scene, with the other three locked. Therefore, it was extremely likely that the couple were both forced out of the front passenger side of the Rambler under gunpoint, thereby necessitating Betty Lou Jensen to exit the Rambler first. If two assailants were present in the other vehicle that night, then it's extremely likely that the perpetrator who exited the driver side of the other vehicle, being closer to the right side of the Rambler, fired immediately upon exiting his vehicle into the headliner and back window of the Rambler, not only to dissuade David Faraday from attempting to escape, but to pressure them to leave the passenger side of the Rambler. If both the assailants vacated their vehicle at approximately the same time, it would be extremely risky for the passenger to fire past his partner at the Rambler. While he is negotiating his way around the second vehicle, his partner would have already fired at least two shots towards the Rambler and would be waiting to secure Betty Lou Jensen as she exited the passenger door of the Rambler. At this time, his partner would have arrived ready to secure David Faraday just shy of the right rear wheel.
With the second assailant facing David Faraday and the gun pressed under the lobe of his left ear, he is effectively rendering David Faraday a spectator to the rest of proceedings. The reason to believe the perpetrator was securing David Faraday from the front rather than the rear is twofold. A gun discharged to the left side of David Faraday's head has a 90% chance of being delivered by a right-handed shooter. One casing was found on the passenger side floorboard, very likely to have been ejected from the position shown above. It either fell directly onto the passenger side floorboard or deflected in off the Rambler door, which was angled in such a way as to facilitate this. Bearing in mind this assailant was overwhelmingly likely to have been right-handed, had he secured David Faraday from the rear, not only would the casing be less likely to have ejected over both of them towards the Rambler door, but David Faraday's feet would unlikely to have been virtually touching the rubber of the right rear tire as he fell to the ground. This strongly suggests that the second assailant was facing David Faraday with the gun pressed behind his left ear - and from this position - incapable of shooting Betty Lou Jensen as she fled westwards across the turnout in a desperate bid for freedom.
The first perpetrator, who initiated the original offensive, now lets Betty Lou Jensen go and likely orders her to run. He fires immediately, creating the speck of powder found around one of the holes in her dress. He then mercilessly guns her down as she flees into the darkness. If the author of the August 4th 1969 letter was telling the truth, then he is the one using the pencil flashlight attached to his gun. A flashlight that would be completely negated had he been the murderer of David Faraday also. Irrespective of whether this assailant missed Betty Lou Jensen or the Rambler as he approached, he would now have fired off every shot so far that night. The final shot delivered by the second assailant as he faced the terrified and helpless David Faraday.
The ballistics pattern on the turnout floor is consistent with the person who fired off nine shots, with the only casing found inside the Rambler, consistent with a right-handed person securing David Faraday in close proximity to the open passenger door of the Rambler. The Department of Justice ballistics report may also suggest the possibility of two shooters that night. There was one crucial section in the DOJ Report, which stated "All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". Item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday's head. The written police report (excluding the drawings) and DOJ ballistics report, both detail the collection of the nine casings from the turnout floor by Sgt Silva and Dan Horan, but neither makes any mention of the tenth casing initially noted on the Rambler floorboard. This casing was not detailed in the ballistics report (likely towed away from the crime scene and separated from the other nine casings). This means we have one casing never examined to see if it matched the other nine. We also have one bullet fired that night (retrieved from David Faraday's head), that didn't exhibit the same right hand groove class characteristics as the other bullets. The phrasing of the sentence in the ballistics report is extremely crucial.
The ballistics pattern on the turnout floor is consistent with the person who fired off nine shots, with the only casing found inside the Rambler, consistent with a right-handed person securing David Faraday in close proximity to the open passenger door of the Rambler. The Department of Justice ballistics report may also suggest the possibility of two shooters that night. There was one crucial section in the DOJ Report, which stated "All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". Item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday's head. The written police report (excluding the drawings) and DOJ ballistics report, both detail the collection of the nine casings from the turnout floor by Sgt Silva and Dan Horan, but neither makes any mention of the tenth casing initially noted on the Rambler floorboard. This casing was not detailed in the ballistics report (likely towed away from the crime scene and separated from the other nine casings). This means we have one casing never examined to see if it matched the other nine. We also have one bullet fired that night (retrieved from David Faraday's head), that didn't exhibit the same right hand groove class characteristics as the other bullets. The phrasing of the sentence in the ballistics report is extremely crucial.
It stated that "although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". If the bullet fired into David Faraday's head was simply too damaged to compare it to the other bullets, then the report should have read "it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". However, the phrase was prefixed with "although some were damaged", suggesting that despite this damage, it was still possible to determine that item [1] didn't have the same characteristics as the other bullets. It also didn't single out the bullet retrieved from David Faraday's head as being damaged, moreover that "some were damaged". Despite some bullets being damaged, "it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics".
If the bullet retrieved from David Faraday's head was connected to the casing ejected from gun used to shoot him, which ejected onto the Rambler floorboard, then we need to find the tenth casing. If this casing exhibited different characteristics to the other nine casings, as the Faraday bullet may have done to the other submitted bullets, then we more than likely had at least two shooters at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968. If the first assailant (who fired nine shots) had written the August 4th 1969 letter, stating "all I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose", it was very likely he was telling the truth - because from his perspective - he wasn't the one who delivered the close-contact wound that ended the short life of David Faraday one cold December night.
If the bullet retrieved from David Faraday's head was connected to the casing ejected from gun used to shoot him, which ejected onto the Rambler floorboard, then we need to find the tenth casing. If this casing exhibited different characteristics to the other nine casings, as the Faraday bullet may have done to the other submitted bullets, then we more than likely had at least two shooters at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968. If the first assailant (who fired nine shots) had written the August 4th 1969 letter, stating "all I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose", it was very likely he was telling the truth - because from his perspective - he wasn't the one who delivered the close-contact wound that ended the short life of David Faraday one cold December night.
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