Chasing King's Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin

Swanson notes that ambulances in 1968 were “little more than station wagons that transported sick or injured people” (157). There were no paramedics or medical equipment in the ambulance that came for King. Police officers began trying to interview witnesses, but many of them were uncooperative. Not only were they “grief stricken” and in shock, many of King’s associates distrusted law enforcement after years of harassment and racist violence. In the chaos at the scene, the dispatcher could not keep up with every radio and ordered that some of the radios be turned off. Then, Tactical Unit 10 called in with another description of Ray. They said the suspect had “dark hair,” a “very dark suit,” and was “medium heavy build.” However, this description could have fit any number of men.

Meanwhile, King’s ride to the hospital took just four minutes. Upon arrival, he was unconscious but still alive. The doctors fought to save his life, including draining more than four cups of blood from his lungs.

Over the next few minutes, the police received several tips on white Mustangs, but none were Ray’s. Then, at 6:35 pm, the dispatcher announced that a unit had spotted a white Mustang speeding. The car reportedly went faster and faster and began firing on the police car chasing it. The chase “became more dramatic by the minute” (162) until the report was revealed as a hoax. The police should have realized sooner, but they were tricked in their panic to catch the killer and distracted for almost 15 crucial minutes. 

In the hospital, a team of doctors continued working on King. His heartbeat faltered, and doctors spent 50 minutes trying to resuscitate him. However, at 7:05 pm, King was finally pronounced dead. His body was wheeled to the morgue, where the medical examiner performed an autopsy, and then moved to the funeral home, where Ralph Abernathy ensured that the morticians did a good job of repairing the wound in King’s face. 

As the night progressed, Ray crossed from Tennessee into Mississippi and then Alabama. Having traveled under fake names, Ray’s identity was still hidden. His final destination for the night was Atlanta, where he returned to his former boarding house, just a few miles from King’s home and family.

Back at the Lorraine Motel, King’s friends and associates gathered in room 306, where they mourned their fallen friend and leader. Like King, they had often feared he would be killed, and now, “the mantle of leadership passed wordlessly” (170) to Ralph Abernathy.

Word of King’s death slowly began to spread. President Lyndon B. Johnson was “horrified” by the news and immediately canceled an upcoming trip. He knew it would be “a disaster for America,” but it became “worse than he could have imagined” (172). As night fell on April 4 and news spread, “the nation became a tinderbox” (173). Despite King’s commitment to nonviolence, a “spasm of anger, resentment, vandalism, looting, arson, and gunfire” (173) overtook the country as people expressed their anger and heartbreak at the tragedy. There were riots across the county, and dozens were killed. Fires broke out, and the National Guard was deployed. 

Senator Robert F. Kennedy was in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a stop on his presidential campaign trail. When he landed, he learned that King had been killed. He was meant to address a Black crowd in a lower-income neighborhood, and when he arrived, he realized they had not yet heard the news. Kennedy broke the news to the crowd and urged them “not to give in to despair and cynicism” (179). He spoke publicly for the first time about losing his brother, President John F. Kennedy, to assassination, and that night, Indianapolis was not wracked by riots. 

For years, the director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, had “wiretapped and hounded King” (179) under the authorization of Robert Kennedy, who was then the attorney general of the United States. Hoover “judged King harshly” (180) and now the head of the FBI assumed he could forget about the man. However, King’s murder was too important a case to be left in the hands of local authorities, so that night, the White House ordered Hoover to take over the search for King’s killer. 

Ralph Abernathy spent the night in room 306, next to King’s empty bed. He had lost his most important colleague but also his best friend. Anonymous mourners came to hang flowers and wreaths on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, soon covering the balcony.

On the morning of April 5, Americans woke to news of “nationwide looting, arson, violence, and murder” (185). The evidence from Memphis, including Ray’s suitcase and all its contents, arrived at the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. Agents tracked down the store where Ray had purchased his gun. However, the owner’s son still couldn’t give a detailed description of the killer. The investigation’s first break came when agents managed to pull six fingerprints off of Ray’s belongings. They also confirmed that the bullet that killed King was fired from the rifle found in the entryway of Canipe’s.

That same morning, Ray arrived in Atlanta. He retrieved a hidden pistol and left a note for the owner indicating his plans to return soon. Then, he abandoned his Mustang and took a bus to Cincinnati, Ohio. From there, he took another bus to Detroit, then a taxi to Windsor, Canada, and a train to Toronto, arriving on April 6. Ray began preparing his escape scheme. From the library, he investigated birth announcements from 1932, looking for an identity to steal. He found a man called Ramon George Sneyd, who still lived in Toronto. Ray contacted Sneyd and, pretending to be a government employee, asked if Sneyd had ever applied for a passport. When Ray learned he hadn’t, he knew he had found his new identity. 

Ray went to have his passport photos taken, but didn’t finish his application immediately because he thought he needed a documented birth certificate and was waiting for the duplicate of Sneyd’s to arrive. This mistake was a waste of valuable time. 

Meanwhile, the FBI was canvassing hotels, motels, and rooming houses in Memphis, hoping to find some trace of Ray. Finally, they visited the motel where Ray had stayed his first night in Memphis and discovered that someone called Eric S. Galt, one of Ray’s aliases, had checked out on April 4 and left in a white Mustang. They obtained the car’s license plate number and tracked down the original owner. However, there was no sign of the car itself until April 10, when a tenant of the apartment parking lot where Ray had left the vehicle reported it. 

The FBI seized the car, and an oil change sticker from a California car dealership led them to discover Ray’s life in Los Angeles. They began to connect the three aliases they had discovered: Harvey Lowmeyer, Eric Starvo Galt, and John Willard.