Johnnie Maxie Witherspoon

[Raymond]

Johnnie Maxie Witherspoon was interviewed in her home on 9-24-77 by
Jack Moriarity and two other members of the House Select Committee. At
the time she was unemployed.

Information collected at that time:
Date of birth: 10-10-34, Height 5'1", Weight 130, Eyes: Blue, Hair
Blonde.
Wears glasses and is right handed.
Had been Tippit's girl friend 1961-1963
Husband in 1963: Stephen Thompson Jr.
Thompson "is remarried. He and wife have a nightclub and love it
now. They had been in the antique business."

"Tippit had shown an interest in another female employee at Austin's
barbeque by the name of Clara Jo Monk, a car hop and waitress.
( Married to a truck driver )."

The investigators were especially interested in the station wagon
that J.D. had bought while the two were dating.

Moriarity: " During that time J.D. Tippit bought what may have been
a new station wagon, may have been a Pontiac and it might have been
the color blue, is that right?"
Johnnie: "To the best that I can remember, yes."
Moriarity: "Would this have been about a 1963, if you recall, or a
62? I know it was within that three year period but was this toward
the end of your relationship or at the beginning of it?"
Johnnie: " Closer to the end of it I believe."

I think that they were interested in the station wagon because a
station wagon fitting that description was seen driving around the
TSBD before the motorcade entered Dealey Plaza. However, it was
described as an Oldsmobile.

Johnnie's mother, Verda Mae Herell, was interviewed on 3-14-78.
Verda worked at the Clifton Towers Coffee Shop located on Ballard
( one block from the Dobbs House where LHO stopped for breakfast. Lee
had also eaten at her place of employment.

Verda: "He was a regular dinner customer. He never talked to anyone
except to her when he ordered his regular hamburger platter and left a
25 cent tip."

Her boss was Zerrell Owen. Verda said that there were few tears when
JFK was killed because they "were all Republicans."

Also working there was a "black boy cook" Amos (Euins), about 16,
whose parents, brother and sister worked there. On 11-22-63, the
police called advising that they were holding Amos as a witness as he
saw JFK shot.

Verda knew Tippit well. She used to sit in a booth and talk to J.D.
about raising kids. "He was interested in the subject..." She was
aware of his three jobs and said "the saddest aspect of the entie
tragedy was the development of the older son in the wrong direction.
It happened from the moment of J.D's. death."

Austin Cook, owner of Austin's BBQ where JD worked. Cook admitted to
FBI, without any hesitation, that he was a member of the John Birch
Society. At one time he and Bert Bowman were partners at place on
West Illinois they called the Bull Pen. In 1958 Bowman bought out his
share of the establishment and took the name Bull Pen with him. Austin
renamed the place Austin's BBQ.

Ralph Paul, Ruby's pal, bought the Bull Pen from Bowman. It was
Bowmans that allowed Ralph Paul to stay in their home while Paul's
house was under construction and where Paul was living at time of
assassination.

Maebert Leolla Cook, former wife of Austin, told investigators that
"Ralph Paul was a mutual friend of the Cooks and Jack Ruby.

There is far too much evidence to suggest that LHO shot Tippit.
However, the husband certainly may have wanted to. At the time of
J.D.'s death Johnnie Maxie was pregnant and gave birth to a child on
June 17, 1964.

In Sept.of 1963, according to court records, Johnnie and her
husband resumed living together---establishing a common-law marriage.
"While conceding that she believed she was pregnant with Tippit's
child at the time of this reconciliation, the woman insists that while
living with this false impression she actually became pregnant by her
husband.

"However, the husband today denies this, insisting that the child
was fathered by Officer Tippit. The man and the woman have long since
been divorced again. Both deny any knowledge of Tippit's death other
than what is in the official account."
Reasonable Doubt--- Henry Hurt p.167-168

According to Henry Hurt (Reasonable Doubt) the husband followed Tippit
and Johnnie around Oak Cliff at night when they were together during
the months of the affair. Apparently this fact was part of the
original petition for divorce.
SEE FBI #68-8294-DR 2; interview with Tippit's lover Witherspoon

Ironically, Johnnie, her husband, and then several children lived in
Oak Cliff, within a few minutes' drive from where J.D. was shot and
there was speculation that Tippit was still seeing her. In fact, he
was seen so often in the area that some of the residents believed that
he lived there.

One retired policeman told author Henry Hurt that he and other
officers believed that Tippit was killed as a result of a volatile
personal situation involving his lover and her estranged husband--and
that some of the other officers "will be inclined to talk about it
once they have retired and their pensions are secure."

Well, today we have DNA testing, an if anyone in the family really
wanted to find out if J.D. was the daddy, they can easily find out.