Billy Nolan Lovelady and Bill Shelly did leave the steps almost immediately after the shots were fired.

This post has been amended on Jan 29th, Feb 14th, Feb 16th, Oct. 14th 2016. and Aug. 29th 2017.

And Oct. 30th and Nov 7th 2018.

I am going to put an end to this debate whether Lovelady and Shelly stayed on the steps as they claimed in their Warren Commission testimonies and to which certain people subscribe  to for some obscure reason, there is just plenty to refute this rubbish assertion.

Photo evidence.

For starters, take a look at the Gerda Dunckel gifs below and check Lovelady’s shirt in the very first few frames and also check out the large still I snagged from PBS Breaking The News, click to enlarge, yes that shirt is checkered, compare it to other garments of a lighter colour or the polka dot coat which do not smudge due to  motion and quality loss. Then look at Shelly, with his black suit and his facial and hair features. For reference of who we are talking about I suggest you check out Billy Lovelady’s and Bill Shelley’s pages I have made which contain plenty of photographs of these two individuals. Both pages are still under construction but there is plenty to see from a visual point of view.

Click on pic. to enlarge.

Upon looking at the image by Couch we see that Shelly wears a black jacket and that Lovelady’s shirt has black horizontal stripes in it. I will place a close-up below. This is not the end result of sharpening and cannot be construed as a digital artefact. Click to enlarge the shot above and you will see that these stripes are nowhere else to be seen on this image. The polka dot coat stays as is, the camouflage/dot coat as well. And even in the light toned skirts/coats there are no such markings to be seen.

Here is a collage of Lovelady’s shirt in many settings.

Click pic. to enlarge.

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Add on photographs Oct 14th 2016.

This ROKC Scan of a Couch film still at first looks very harsh and doesn’t overall have much information, but it does happen to show a lot regarding our illustrious duo. This print comes from the Richard E. Sprague Collection from the National Archives.

Click on pic to enlarge.

I applied various ways of sharpening with overall decent results to be absolutely positive that these two are Shelley and Lovelady. Lovelady’s shirt is a dead give away and so is the shape of Shelley, compare that with the collage below.

Click on pic to enlarge.

Click on pic to enlarge.

Thanks to Ed Ledoux. Lovelady’s bald patch and Shelley’s white sports shirt collar are recognisable as well.

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Now let’s have a look at the paperwork such as Lovelady’s and Shelley’s statements and testimonies.

Billy Lovelady

Lovelady’s very first handwritten statement on Nov 22nd 1963 makes no mention of Oswald even after he is paraded past him.

But that very same statement also makes no mention of them (him and Shelley) leaving the steps either. He actually states: ”After it was over we went back into the building and went to work” With the ‘went to work’ bit stricken through. This bit is omitted from the typed up and signed report. See the first two documents below.

But then Billy Lovelady states in the FBI report by Robert M. Barrett from the same day as his affidavit to the DPD: ”immediately after hearing the shots he and Shelly started running towards the Presidential car, but it sped away west on Elm Street under the triple underpass. He and Shelley then returned to the Texas School Book Depository Building”. During this time he saw no one run out of the building or saw no suspicious individuals. 

Lovelady also mentions in document CE 1381, from March 1964, the following: “I recall that following the shooting, I ran toward the spot where President Kennedy’s car had stopped William Shelley and myself stayed in that area for approximately five minutes when we then re-entered the Depository building by the side door located on the west side of the building”.

Add on Aug. 29th 2017:

Then Lovelady talked to a reporter of The Houston Post on the 22nd as well. Lovelady describes W.B. Barnett who ran in front of them towards the rail road yards. Which corresponds with the still photograph of the Couch film.

Joe Marshall Smith, Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady in the Couch film. Click photo to enlarge.

Bill Shelley.

Shelly (trying to enter the police vehicle) leaves for the DPD station at 13:30 with Danny Arce Garcia and Bonnie Ray Williams as seen below.

He states in his very first D.P.D. affidavit on Nov. 22nd  “I ran across the street to a corner of the park. I ran into a girl crying and she said the president had been shot. This girls name is Gloria Calvery. Who is an employee of this same building. I went back to the building and went inside and called my wife and told her what happened.”  This first statement, like Lovelady’s, contains no reference to Lee Harvey Oswald either. I also value this first statement for the inclusion of him running across after the shots were fired.

FBI Statement of Bill Shelly March 18^th 1964 CE 1381: “Immediately following the shooting Billy Lovelady and I left…….”

The primary statements of these two  contradict their WC testimonies, which no one from the WC bothered to ask about while they were giving their testimony.

Warren Commission Testimonies.

Now the only thing that I find true of their WC testimonies is the fact that they left the steps together.

Their timings are way off and Weisberg addressed their rubbish 50 years ago already. Go to his archive and read about it: William Shelley and Billy Lovelady.

In Shelly’s WC testimony things are given a nice twist, they stay there for a minute, they have Gloria Calvery coming up the steps doing her bit which contradicts his first statement. The island gets a mention here. Truly and Baker are seen after 3 or 4 minutes! And then they leave and then are re-entering through the back of the building.
Mr. BALL. Then what happened?
Mr. SHELLEY. Gloria Calvary from South-Western Publishing Co. ran back up there crying and said “The President has been shot” and Billy Lovelady and myself took off across the street to that little, old island and we stopped there for a minute.
Mr. BALL. Across the street, you mean directly south?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes, slightly to the right, you know where the light is there?
Mr. BALL. Yes.
Mr. SHELLEY. That little, old side street runs in front of our building and Elm Street.
Mr. BALL. It dead ends?
Mr. SHELLEY. There’s concrete between the two streets.
Mr. BALL. Elm Street dead ends there just beyond the building, doesn’t it?
Mr. SHELLEY. Well, that’s also Elm that goes under the triple underpass.
Mr. BALL. That is Elm that goes under the triple underpass?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. You went to the concrete between the two Elm Streets?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes, where they split.
Mr. BALL. You went out there and then what did you do?
Mr. SHELLEY. Well, officers started running down to the railroad yards and Billy and I walked down that way.
Mr. BALL. How did you get down that way; what course did you take?
Mr. SHELLEY. We walked down the middle of the little street.
Mr. BALL. The dead-end street?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Truly, Mr. Truly and an officer go into the building?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yeah, we saw them right at the front of the building while we were on the island.
Mr. BALL. While you were out there before you walked to the railroad yards?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. FALL. Do you have any idea how long it was from the time you heard those three sounds or three noises until you saw Truly and Baker going into the building?
Mr. SHELLEY. It would have to be 3 or 4 minutes I would say because this girl that ran back up there was down near where the car was when the President was hit.
Mr. BALL. She ran back up to the door and you had still remained standing there?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Going to watch the rest of the parade were you?
Mr. SHFZLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. The Vice President hadn’t gone by, had he, by your place?
Mr. SHELLEY. I don’t know. I didn’t recognize him. I did recognize Mr. Kennedy and his suntan I had been hearing about.
Mr. BALL. How did you happen to see Truly?
Mr. SHELLEY. We ran out on the island while some of the people that were out watching it from our building were walking back and we turned around and we saw an officer and Truly.
Mr. BALL. And Truly?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Did you see them go into the building7
Mr. SHELLEY. So; we didn’t watch that long but they were at the first step like they were fixin’ to go in.
Mr. BALL. Were they moving at the time, walking or running?
Mr. SHELLEY. Well, they were moving, yes.
Mr. BAL.L. Were they running?
Mr. SHELLEY. That, I couldn’t swear to; there were so many people around.
Mr. BALL. What did you and Billy Lovelady do?
Mr. SHELLEY. We walked on down to the flrst railroad track there on the dead-end street and stood there and watched them searching cars down there in the parking lots for a little while and then we came in through our parking lot at the west end.
Mr. BALL. At the west end?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes ; and then in the side door into the shipping room.
Mr. BILL. When you came into the shipping room did you see anybody?
Mr. SHELLEY. I saw Eddie Piper.
Mr. BALL. What was he doing?
Mr. SHELLEY. He was coming back from where he was watching the motorcade in the southwest corner of the shipping room.
Mr. BALL. Of the first floor of the building?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Who else did you see?
Nr. SHELLEY. That’s all we saw immediately.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever see Vickie Adams?
Mr. SHELLEY. I saw her that day but I don’t remember where I saw her.
Mr. BALL. You don’t remember whether you saw her when you came back?
Mr. SHELLEY. It was after we entered the building.
Mr. BALL. You think you did see her after you entered the building?
Nr. SHELLEY. Yes, sir; I thought it was on the fourth floor awhile after that.
Mr. BALL. Now, did the police come into the building?
Illr. SHELLEY. Yes, sir ; they started coming in pretty fast.
Mr. BALL. Did you go with them any place?
Mr. SHELLEY. Yes; Mr. Truly left me guarding the elevator, not to let anybody up and down the elevator or stairway and some plainclothesmen came in; I don’t know whether they were Secret Service or FBI or what but they wanted me to take them upstairs, so we went up and started searching the various floors.

Billy Lovelady fantasises even some more during his Warren Commission testimony.

I have added some notes in bold.

Mr. BALL – Now, when Gloria came up you were standing near Mr. Shelley?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yeah.
Mr. BALL – When Gloria came up and said the President had been shot, Gloria Calvary, what did you do?
Mr. LOVELADY – Well, I asked who told her. She said he had been shot so we asked her was she for certain or just had she seen the shot hit him or–she said yes, she had been right close to it to see and she had saw the blood and knew he had been hit but didn’t know how serious it was and so the crowd had started towards the railroad tracks back, you know, behind our building there and we run towards that little, old island and kind of down there in that little street. We went as far as the first tracks and everybody was hollering and crying and policemen started running out that way and we said we better get back into the building, so we went back into the west entrance on the back dock had that low ramp and went into the back dock back inside the building.
Mr. BALL – First of all, let’s get you to tell us whom you left the steps with.
Mr. LOVELADY – Mr. Shelley.
Mr. BALL – Shelley and you went down how far?
Mr. LOVELADY – Well, I would say a good 75, between 75 to 100 yards to the first tracks. See how those tracks goes—
Mr. BALL – You went down the dead end on Elm?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes.
Mr. BALL – And down to the first tracks?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes.
Mr. BALL – Did you see anything there?
Mr. LOVELADY – No, sir; well, just people running.
Mr. BALL – That’s all?
Mr. LOVELADY – And hollerin.
Mr. BALL – How did you happen to go down there?
Mr. LOVELADY – I don’t know, because everybody was running from that way and naturally, I guess—
Mr. BALL – They were running from that way or toward that way?
Mr. LOVELADY – Toward that way; everybody thought it was coming from that direction.
Mr. BALL – By the time you left the steps had Mr. Truly entered the building?
Mr. LOVELADY – As we left the steps I would say we were at least 15. maybe 25. steps away from the building. I looked back and I saw him and the policeman running into the building.
Mr. BALL – How many steps?
Mr. LOVELADY – Twenty, 25.
Mr. BALL – Steps away and you looked back and saw him enter the building?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes. At no time in the Couch film is Lovelady seen looking back.
Mr. BALL – Then you came back. How long did you stay around the railroad tracks?
Mr. LOVELADY – Oh, just a minute, maybe minute and a half.
Mr. BALL – Then what did you do?
Mr. LOVELADY – Came back right through that part where Mr. Campbell, Mr. Truly, and Mr. Shelley park their cars and I came back inside the building.
Mr. BALL – And enter from the rear?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes, sir; sure did.
Mr. BALL – You heard the shots. And how long after that was it before Gloria Calvary came up?
Mr. LOVELADY – Oh, approximately 3 minutes, I would say.
Mr. BALL – Three minutes is a long time.
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes, it’s—I say approximately; I can’t say because I don’t have a watch; it could.
Mr. BALL – Had people started to run?
Mr. LOVELADY – Well, I couldn’t say because she came up to us and we was talking to her, wasn’t looking that direction at that time, but when we came off the steps–see, that entrance, you have a blind side when you go down the steps.
Mr. BALL – Right after you talked to Gloria, did you leave the steps and go toward the tracks?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes.
Mr. BALL – Did you run or walk?
Mr. LOVELADY – Medium trotting or fast walk.
Mr. BALL – A fast walk?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes.
Mr. BALL – How did you happen to turn around and see Truly and the policeman go into the building?
Mr. LOVELADY – Somebody hollered and I looked.
Mr. BALL – You turned around and looked?
Mr. LOVELADY – Yes. Again at no time in the Couch film is Lovelady seen looking back or responding to any hollering.

Lovelady then also destroys Vicky Adams’ testimony from a time perspective with his WC testimony, so the Commission can claim she was wrong.

It has become obvious that Bill Shelley and Billy Lovelady were lying while being interviewed by Joseph Ball all to mess with the timings perspective with regards Oswald and them going back to one of the rear entrances since that would also show how long it took before the building was actually secured. The TSBD  exits after the shooting resembled Swiss cheese for many minutes after the shooting.

These statements and the Warren Commission testimonies by Bill Shelly and Billy Lovelady show plenty that they did leave the steps almost immediately after the shooting and that they cannot be accounted on the steps for in the Jimmy Darnell film, besides walking westwards and being seen doing so in a better capture in the Malcolm Couch film.

Buell Frazier during his H.S.C.A. testimony (tape 2) is specifically asked by the interviewer when Lovelady and Shelley left the steps and to everyone’s amazement (including mine) he states that this happened before the motorcade made the turn on to to Elm St.

Subsequently he is confronted with the Altgens 6 photo which shows Lovelady standing on the steps while Kennedy is shot in the throat, so after the turn on Elm St.

Detailed crop of the HSCA version of Altgens 6 with Lovelady on the left.. Source Mary Ferrell.

In closing.

Shelly was Oswald’s supervisor and worked directly under Roy Truly.

Lovelady had a weapons charge dangling of which Ochus Campbell (Roy Truly’s boss) paid off the remainder of Lovelady’s fine as he was being re-arrested for non-payment.

You wonder where these men’s loyalties lie? Not with someone who only joined a month before the big event and who later on it turned out to be living in Russia for almost three years

There is quite a bit pointing to that Shelly and Lovelady left the steps to go west of the TSBD almost immediately after the shots had been fired. In fact Lovelady makes his way down the steps before Wiegman exited the car and that was before the head shot.

From the footage that is around with Lovelady in it. It shows that he was an inquisitive person as he manoeuvred himself up and down on those steps to get a better view of the limo.