Post Mortem Findings
Whitman's autopsy was conducted on the morning of August 2, 1966, by Dr. Coleman de Chenar, a neuropathologist. Because of the hot Texas summer climate and lack of refrigerated storage areas at the funeral home, Whitman's body had already been embalmed to prevent decomposition (this was not typical practice in cooler periods). The procedure was witnessed by several other individuals, including a coroner and a few police officers.
Whitman's body in the Cook Funeral Home is being fingerprinted.
de Chenar started the grisly affair with a general inspection of the corpse, making notes about the subject's features and paying careful attention to all signs of trauma. He then focused on recovering Whitman's brain, which had been badly damaged by the lethal gunshot wounds.
Steps to extracting the brain (the spinal cord needs to be severed).
MRI image of a patient (T1-weighted sagittal view) with a low grade tumour (yellow arrow) of a similar size and location to Whitman's tumour causing hydronephrosis.
MRI image of another patient (T2-weighted coronal view) with a low-grade tumour with a size and location similar to Whitman's also causing hydronephrosis.
de Chenar sectioned the brain using coronal cuts and then moved on to opening the thoracic and abominal cavities and removing the contents. He carefully inspected them and chose tissue samples for microscopic analysis. When he commemced the gross examination of Whitman's brain, de Chenar informed the attendees that he had found a tumour "in a pool of blood and lacerated brain." In the final autopsy report, he stated "In the middle part of the brain, above the red nucleus, in the white matter below the gray matter of the thalamas is a fairly well outlined tumor about 2 x 1.5 x 1 cm in dimensions, grayish-yellow, with peripheral areas of red as blood." He concluded the report by summarzing the ballistic trauma and and documented the incidental "Additional findings: A small tumor in the white matter above the brainstem, composed of connective tissue elements of the brain [glial] ... (Astrocytoma). No correlation to psychosis or permanent pains."
The comment regarding the lack of a role of the tumour in causing Whitman's symptoms (headaches, emotional lability) is unexpected since pathologists generally don't interact with patients. The specimens were later examined by a panel of expert pathologists during the Connally Commission. They identified several limitations of the pathological review, one of which was "the destruction of the brain by the gunshot wounds was so extensive that the anatomic relationships could not be completely evaluated and the examination of all the major nerve tracts and nuclei of the brain was impossible." Their consensus was that the tumour was of the highest grade, a glioblastoma multiforme, which is the most lethal type. Their opinion regarding it affecting Whitman's behaviour was "the highly malignant brain tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions." The debate regarding the role of the tumour in Whitman's murderous behaviour was never settled. That is why I decided to write "Cause of Death: Ballistic Trauma" after reading his official autopsy report.
Associated Press
Dr. Coleman de Chenar explains to the press the location of Whitman's tumour.
