New Autopsy for The Big Bopper

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hipmamajen

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070117/ap_en_mu/big_bopper_autopsy

The son of "The Big Bopper" has hired a forensic anthropologist to try to answer questions about how his father died in the 1959 plane crash that also took the lives of famous early rock `n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Jay Richardson, who performs tribute shows as "The Big Bopper Jr.," hopes an examination of his father's remains will settle rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane, and tell whether the Big Bopper might have survived the crash impact and died trying to go for help.
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Apparently there are also rumors that a gun was fired on the plane...
 
I had never heard any rumors about the crash. Very Interesting. Since there would be nothing left but a skeleton it would be hard to determine how long he lived after the crash. Also a bullet can miss bone and not be detected after all this time. I wouldn't put much hope in them finding anything. Of course they could find a bullet that would make this a big mystery!
 
I just can't see doing this. Let him rest in peace I say. But, of course it's not up to me.
 
I guess I could see him wanting to know exactly what happened to this father, but exhuming his remains to do it seems extreme and disrespectful (imo).
 
Big Bopper autopsy puts rumors to rest

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson suffered massive fractures and likely died immediately in the 1959 plane crash that also killed early rock 'n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, a forensic anthropologist said Tuesday after exhuming the body.

The performer's son, Jay Richardson, hired Dr. Bill Bass, a well-known forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, to look at the remains in Beaumont, Texas.

There have been rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane and that the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to get help.

Bass took X-rays of the body and found nothing Tuesday to support those theories.

"There was no indication of foul play," Bass said in a telephone interview from Beaumont. "There are fractures from head to toe. Massive fractures. ... (He) died immediately. He didn't crawl away. He didn't walk away from the plane."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/07/bigbopper.autopsy.ap/index.html?eref=yahoo

The story also says that the body was STILL well preserved enough to actually recognize him!!! They were quite shocked about that, I don't blame them!

 
I always liked The Big Bopper, as a very young teenager danced to "Chantilly Lace". And well remember the day "the music died".

I don't think it was at all disrespectful for his son to have him exhumed. From reading the article, it sounds like it might have given the son a kind of "closure".
 
Thanks for the update. That's good to know that nothing sinister was going on. I hope the son has found some peace.

Wow, still recognizable. Amazing!
 
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