Who owns used caskets?

Bob CollinsBob Collins Dec 11, 2014
7

Who should own this old casket? Or any old casket, for that matter?

A judge in Texas may decide the question soon. It once held JFK-killer Lee Harvey Oswald.

It’s the same casket which reporters once carried to Oswald’s then-final resting place. He was exhumed later so that investigators could confirm that he was actually buried in it.

Reporters were enlisted to act as pall bearers at the interment of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery. Pallbearers from left end - Jerry Flemmons with crewcut and no glasses. In front of Flemmons are reporters Ed Horn and Mike Cochran. Funeral director Paul J. Groody was among the pallbearers. On the far side of the casket are Jon McConal, rear, and Preston McGraw, front. The pallbearer obscured behind Groody could not be identified. (AP Photo/Gene Gordon)

After the exhumation, the funeral home director kept the old casket and then sold it at auction in 2010 for $87,000.

But Oswald’s brother sued, saying because he paid $300 for the pine box in 1963, he’s the owner.

This week the trial began in the case, and lasted two days. The judge has yet to rule.