2 Dillinger relatives doubt body in grave is the gangster
INDIANAPOLIS — Two relatives of notorious 1930s gangster John Dillinger who plan to have his remains exhumed say they have “evidence” the body buried in an Indianapolis cemetery beneath a gravestone bearing his name may not be him and that FBI agents possibly killed someone else in 1934.
The FBI immediately disputed that idea, calling it a “myth” that its agents didn’t fatally shoot Dillinger outside a Chicago theater more than 85 years ago. The agency said weren’t a match and that he in a statement that “a wealth had a heart condition. The of information supports Dil- document doesn’t elaborate linger’s demise” including on why the heart condition fingerprint matches. supports their theory that
But in affidavits released the man wasn’t Dillinger. by the Indiana State DepartBut both say they want ment of Health, two relatives the body exhumed and subof the famed criminal say jected to a forensic analythey’re seeking to have “a sis and possibly DNA test- body purported to be John ing “in order to make a pos- H. Dillinger” exhumed from itive identification.” Crown Hill Cemetery for a “It is my belief and opinforensic analysis and possiion that it is critical to learn ble DNA testing. whether Dillinger lived
The planned exhumation beyond his reported date will be part of a documenof death of July 22, 1934. If he tary on Dillinger for The Hiswas not killed on that date, tory Channel, a spokesman I am interested in discoverfor A&E Networks, Dan Sil- ing what happened to him, berman, confirmed. where he lived, whether he
Mike Thompson and Carol had children, and whether Thompson Griffith, who say any such children or grandDillinger was their uncle, children are living today,” say in affidavits supporting both say in the documents. an exhumation and reburial The Chicago Sun-Times permit the state approved and WLS-TV first reported that they have received “evi- on the affidavits supportdence that demonstrates that ing the exhumation permit. the individual who was shot The FBI took the unusual and killed at the Biograph step of issuing a statement Theater in Chicago on July insisting that its agents had in 22, 1934 may not in fact have fact shot and killed Dillinger been my uncle, John H. Dil- “as he reached for a pistol linger.” from his trouser pocket”
In their affidavits, both outside the theater. say that “evidence” includes The FBI said Dillinger was that the eye color of the man pronounced dead at a Chi- killed outside that theater cago hospital. The FBI also didn’t match Dillinger’s eye said it’s a “common myth” color, his ears were shaped that “a stand-in” and not Dil- differently, the fingerprints linger was the man killed, saying that such claims “have been advanced with only circumstantial evidence.”
Another Dillinger relative said, however, that he considers the planned exhumation to be disrespectful. Great-nephew Jeff Scalf tells WTHR-TV that he’s certain the late gangster is buried in the concrete-encased grave that’s marked with his name at the cemetery.
“I don’t believe in desecrating the dead. I think it’s been 85 years. It doesn’t matter,” Scalf told the Indianapolis station. “Unless somebody was successful in robbing the grave, that’s John. I know that that’s John,” said Scalf, who’s a cousin of Mike Thompson, a relative who sought the state permit.
The Indianapolis-born Dillinger was one of America’s most notorious criminals. The FBI says Dillinger’s gang killed 10 people as they pulled off a bloody string of bank robberies across the Midwest. He was never convicted of murder.
Dillinger was awaiting trial in the slaying of a police officer when he escaped from jail in Crown Point, Indiana, in March 1934. While on the run, he underwent plastic surgery to alter his face and tried to remove his fingerprints with acid.