- Marina Oswald Porter, a 72-year-old grandmother has lived with her second husband Ken in Rockwall, Texas since the mid-Seventies
- She has two daughters by Oswald and a son with her second husband
- The assassin’s ring sold to an anonymous Texas bidder on October 24 for $108,000 – Mrs Porter will keep the proceeds
Fifty years after her husband became one of the most reviled men in American history Marina Porter has revealed she is convinced Lee Harvey Oswald was not responsible for killing President John F Kennedy.
Half a century after a gunshot rang out and rendered her a widow with two young children to care for, the now 72-year-old has seen in public, stepping out to shop in Walmart.
Since her husband – a Soviet defector – was named the man responsible for assassinating JFK, Russian-born Marina has lived a quiet life behind closed doors, hiding away from suspicious eyes.
Marina Oswald Porter, widow of Lee Harvey Oswald who assassinated JFK, told a press conference in 1977: 'I believe that Lee acted alone in this murder and shot the President , ironically a man whom he respected and admired'. She now no longer believes he killed the president
Gripped by fear and facing accusations from those who believe she was a co-conspirator in a KGB plot, the grandmother has lived in Rockwall, Texas since the mid-1970s with her second husband Kenneth Porter and three children.
But as the 50th anniversary of the tragedy approaches the now 72-year-old has emerged from her inconspicuous life.
Mrs Porter, is said to be struggling through a life blighted by illness, made worse by the impending 50th anniversary and the inevitable media frenzy which will ensue.
Immediately after the assassination the then mother-of-two told the Warren Commission investigating the assassination that she thought her 24-year-old husband was guilty of shooting the president.
But as the 50th anniversary looms, sources have revealed, the mother-of-three has, after reading 40,000 books and conspiracy theories about the shooting, she has changed her mind.
She now believes, along with the majority of American citizens, that a more complex cover up led to the shooting of the beloved president.
Close friend and documentary film maker Keya Morgan, said she now believes her husband was set up to take the fall for conspirators in the CIA and Mafia.
The 72-year-old is said to be convinced her phones are still tapped by the Secret Service and lives in fear of being targeted and killed by spooks herself.
Marina Oswald weeps as she views the body of her husband and JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before burial on November 25, 1963. She is holding her 22-month-old daughter June
Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina, and his daughter June Lee, when they lived in Minsk in the USSR, shortly before they moved to the U.S.
Mr Morgan told the Daily Mirror: ‘She has spent half a century fearing for her own life.
‘The anniversary is a constant reminder of what happened. Her life now is like a terrifying episode of the Twilight Zone, where every day she is forced to answer the same question about the most traumatic moment of her life.
‘She is terrified of what might happen to her if she allowed herself to be thrust back into the limelight.’
He said he fears the 50th anniversary bandwagon is seriously damaging her health – causing her to develop an immune deficiency disorder from the stress.
Marina, a Russian immigrant to the U.S., was living apart from Oswald when he shot dead President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
The night before the assassination she remembers him bringing his rifle to her home and putting it in the garage. The next day, she noticed it was gone.
Due to her relationship with Oswald, Marina found herself the focus of intense scrutiny, so has spent many years hidden away in the small town, where a sign at the end of her driveway warns to ‘Keep Out’.
Two years after the JFK assassination, Marina married Kenneth Porter and they moved to Texas around ten years later. The family settled in Rockwall just 20 miles from Dallas.
Assassin's ring: A wedding band worn by Lee Harvey Oswald until just hours before he killed President John F. Kennedy was sold at auction this month for $108,000
She has two daughters by Oswald – June and Rachel – who confirmed to the National Enquirer that Marina does believe their father was innocent of the shooting and just a patsy for the Mafia and CIA. The Porters also have a son called Mark.
The 72-year-old Mrs Porter has changed her mind about Oswald’s guilt, according to the report, after reading books and watching documentaries on the assassination which has been mired in conspiracy theories for decades.
Mr Morgan, told the Enquirer: ‘She certainly doesn’t believe the official story – she always told me Lee Harvey Oswald loved President Kennedy.
Banded together: Oswald is pictured wearing his wedding band as he and wife Marina leave Belarus in the early sixties for America. It sold for $108,000 at auction earlier this month
‘Marina says she remembers the day the Kennedys’ premature baby Patrick died (August 7, 1963) and she found Lee sobbing.’
Despite her change of heart over Oswald, Mrs Porter’s neighbors in Rockwall told the National Enquirer that she is a much-loved member of the local community.
Fred McCurley, who lives nearby, told the Enquirer: ‘She and Ken are good people, the best neighbors you could ever have.’
In July, Mrs Porter announced that she putting his wedding ring up for auction as she breaks the final ties to what she describes as the ‘worst day of my life’.
She had given the band up to be auctioned in New Hampshire after it was returned to her following 50 years lost in an attorney’s folder of legal papers from the trial.
The ring sold to an anonymous Texas bidder on October 24 for $108,000.
It is accompanied by a fascinating letter written by Mrs Porter which gives the background to the historical object.
Previous life: Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina and their daughter June Lee in 1962
Fateful day: A snapshot taken of the moment JFK was shot in the head in 1963 while driving through Dallas, Texas
President and Jacqueline Kennedy arrive at Dallas Love Field a few hours before he was killed by a sniper, Lee Harvey Oswald
A small section reads: ‘At this time of my life, I don’t wish to have Lee’s ring in my possession because symbolicly [sic] I want to let go of my past that is connecting with Nov. 22, 1963.’
Mrs Porter will keep the proceeds from the sale. In the letter she writes that the ring, which has a tiny engraving of a hammer and sickle, was bought by Oswald in Minsk in 1961 shortly before the couple returned to the U.S.
The ring was left on the couple’s bedside table when Oswald set out to kill the President.
Oswald was himself later shot and killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby while in police custody.
She had refused to speak publicly as the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination approaches.
The wedding band was discovered in 2004 stuck in a manila folder at a Forth Worth law firm.
It was among the papers of Forrest Markward, a lawyer who represented Mrs Porter following the Kennedy assassination.
After several years of legal tussles, the ring was returned by post to Mrs Porter in an envelope marked ‘Treasury Department Secret Service’.
Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in downtown Dallas.
Oswald then fatally shot Officer J.D. Tippit and was arrested at the Texas Theatre in the city.
The 50th anniversary has been gaining attention in recent months as everyone from museum curators to musicians have embarked on projects to remember the event.
The city of Dallas will hold a commemoration November 22 in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy’s motorcade was passing as shots rang out.
Killing: Oswald is seen here being led through Dallas Police Station after being arrested on suspicion of assassinating President John F Kennedy. He was later shot and killed himself by Jack Ruby
Evidence: Marina Oswald Porter with her husband Ken Porter in 1968 at court in Texas in connection with the trial of her ex-husband Lee Harvey Oswald
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