Benjamin Freeman

Chris, The damage to C2 is the problem, which you have correctly noted. A bullet moving downward and into the left of Charlie's neck as you have postulated would have to bounce off of something hard enough to redirect it. The only osseous structures in the area would be the clavicle and the first rib, both caudad and anterior to the presumed bullet's path. While it is remotely possible that a bullet striking the lower cervical spine could have also injured C2, I think it is also implausible it would have caused R sided pulmonary and cardiac hemorrhage. While the 43 degree offset is consistent with carotid and jugular vein injury plus lower cervical spine damage it doesn't make sense in the z axis. At this point we are deep into magic bullet territory. On the other hand, a shaped charge on his R chest can better explain all the injuries: Bilateral pulmonary and pericardiac hemorrhage, extensive damage to the cervical spine (including the higher levels if the casing was moving upward in posteriorly) and transection of the great vessels in the Left neck. Moreover, the eruption of blood and tissue from his neck the instant the wound appears is more consistent with an exit wound. My best guess would be the casing, acting as the projectile, went through portions of both lungs, passed behind the sternum, hit the medial part of the Left clavicle and broke up. Part of it continued out of the neck after hitting the blood vessels and another part or parts were lodged in the upper cervical spine. It is also possible that the casing broke up after discharge, allowing for two or more separate projectiles. Beyond that, there are other observations that are hard to dismiss: 1) Why was Rick Cutler pushing something on his Left sleeve an instant before Charlie was injured? 2) What did he hand off to another member of the security team who then left the scene lickety split after pulling something off of Charlie's body? 3) Conspicuously absent from the evidence is the RODE microphone itself, which presumably was recording audio. An intact or even damaged mic would put this entire theory to rest. Why is there no mention of this key piece of evidence anywhere? 4) Terryl Farnsworth grabs the memory card off of the camera behind Charlie unchallenged and then releases the data on a flash drive to the FBI? This is not acceptable. 5) The paving over of the crime scene within days is highly suspicious from the jump. While there may be some kind of reason for this it is inescapable that if there were explosive residues the soil would have been a good place to look for them. We know the order came from above State authorities. Why would the FBI order this? More unacceptable behavior from the authorities. And, as we both know, this wouldn't be the first time those in charge of a massive crime chose not to look for explosives... If you will indulge some speculation from me, it seems to me that Charlie's security team acted in a pre-rehearsed manner, bundling him up and throwing him into an SUV. I think we both can agree that, in and of itself, is suspicious. There was no hesitation about what they needed to do at that moment. Though they maybe highly trained, this was probably the first time they ever had to deal with something like this. We both know that the proper way to handle the situation was to get him out of harms way and immediately assess the extent of his injuries, stop the bleeding and administer BLS protocol at the very least. If they were complicit in his murder, I highly doubt that they would have placed themselves in such close proximity to him with someone shooting in their general direction. Moreover, if there was an expert sniper involved, shooting from a hundred to two hundred yards away, why aim at his neck and not his head? Are we to believe the guy hired for this kind of hit didn't have next-level aim? Looking forward to seeing you in person in NYC. So glad you will be joining us!