History Channel drops out of planned Dillinger documentary
INDIANAPOLIS — The History Channel has dropped out of a planned documentary on 1930s gangster John Dillinger that would have featured the proposed exhumation of his grave in Indianapolis sought by two relatives of the notorious criminal who question whether he’s truly buried there.
A&E Networks spokesman Dan Silberman said Wednesday that The History Channel is no longer involved in the documentary, but declined further comment, saying network officials “do not comment on why we aren’t moving forward with a project.”
Silberman said in early August that the Dillinger project had not gone into production.
Dillinger’s nephew, Michael C. Thompson, filed a lawsuit Aug. 14 against Crown Hill Cemetery, after cemetery officials objected to the proposed exhumation.
Thompson is one of two Dillinger relatives who sought a state permit to exhume the gravesite, saying Indiana Reformatory booking shots of John Dillinger can be seen in the state archives.
they have evidence that Dillinger’s body may not be buried there and that he may not have been the man FBI agents fatally shot outside a Chicago theater on July 22, 1934. That permit was approved in July.
The FBI said in a statement in August that it was a “myth” that its agents didn’t kill Dillinger and that “a wealth of information supports Dillinger’s demise” including fingerprint matches.
Thompson and Carol Thompson Griffith said in
their permit applications to the Indiana State Department of Health that they want the body exhumed and subjected to a forensic analysis and possibly DNA testing “in order to make a positive identification.” They said in their identical applications that Dillinger was their uncle.
An Oct. 1 status hearing is scheduled in Thompson’s lawsuit against the cemetery. The Associated Press on Wednesday left a message seeking comment from Thompson’s attorney.