The 20 most common misconceptions about John Lennon’s murder.

Myth 1 - Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times.
Truth – Multiple medical testimony and police witnesses all agreed, that Lennon was shot in his chest.

Myth 2 – Lennon was shot in the driveway.
Truth – Lennon was shot inside the vestibule area. The lead detective confirmed this in 1980 and he confirms it today. Witness statements also corroborated this.

Myth 3 – The Dakota Doorman was a CIA hitman/employee/agent etc.
Truth – Dakota doorman Jose Perdomo was almost certainly not Bay of Pigs Jose Perdomo. The known birth dates and ages don’t match up. Why would one of the CIA’s most infamous covert operators, want to work the door at the Dakota for 20 years and why wouldn’t he change his name? Bay of Pigs soldiers often changed their names after the event.

Myth 4 – The doorman Jose Perdomo saw everything.
Truth – Tellingly, Jose Perdomo’s witness statement is still being kept from the public. Piecing together conversation’s other people had at the time with Perdomo, we can deduce that he probably saw very little. Or maybe what he did see, did not fit with the ‘Chapman definitely did it’ narrative.

Myth 5 – Yoko got out of the limo first.
Truth – Where Yoko was positioned is still unclear. She has given varying accounts of her position, which is understandable when you consider the shock of the event.

Myth 6 – Yoko shot her husband.
Truth – There is no evidence to suggest that Yoko had anything to do with her husband’s murder.

Myth 7 – Yoko saw Chapman kill her husband.
Truth – In over 42 years, Yoko has never said that she saw Mark Chapman shoot her husband. She has had multiple opportunities to do so.

Myth 8 – Chapman was a Lennon obsessive.
Truth – Chapman liked all kinds of music. He was a Beatles fan when he was younger, but who wasn’t at that time?

Myth 9 – Chapman killed Lennon for fame.
Truth – By foregoing the trial of the century and eventually pleading guilty – Chapman curtailed his one chance to be the centre of the World’s attention. After giving two TV interviews 30 years ago, Chapman has declined all other media invitations.

Myth 10 – Chapman admitted he did it.
Truth – This is true, but after initially not fully understanding what he had done and why he did it, Chapman eventually pled guilty. This about-face came after being visited in his police cell by multiple hypnotists and psychiatric experts with intelligence links. One ‘expert’, Milton Kline, was the leading consultant on a Manchurian Candidate program for the CIA.

Myth 11 – Chapman called out to Lennon and John turned.
Truth – No first-hand witnesses from the night, including Chapman, has said Chapman called out to Lennon and Lennon then turned. Yoko has specifically stated that they did not turn around. Dakota staff who heard Lennon approaching, did not hear Chapman call out. Cab driver Richard Peterson has said that he heard Chapman call out to Lennon, but he has only recently added this detail, many years after his original statements failed to mention it.

Myth 12 – Chapman had a gun on him after Lennon was shot.
Truth – By the time the police arrived, Chapman’s alleged gun had been taken away by a third party and hidden. No fingerprints were taken from the gun. The chain of evidence on the gun was broken many times.

Myth 13 – Doctor Lynn was the surgeon who worked on Lennon and he never mentioned Lennon being shot in the front.
Truth – For 30 years, Doctor Lynn took the credit for trying to save Lennon’s life and holding Lennon’s heart in his hand. This was untrue. Lynn did arrive later in the ER room when Dr. Halleran and nurses were already trying to save Lennon, but he did not assist in their efforts. Lynn’s pristine white medical coat when he spoke to the media, spoke volumes.

Myth 14 – Doctor Veteran has gone on record and stated Lennon was shot down his left side.
Truth – Doctor Veteran, like Doctor Lynn, did not help in saving John Lennon’s life.

Myth 15 – The ER report would have stated where John Lennon was shot.
Truth -  The ER report, filled out on the night Lennon died by Dr. Halleran, has gone missing. This report had a stick drawing showing Lennon’s front and exit wounds – four in the front, three out of the back, in a direct line of fire. This vital evidence has gone missing.

Myth 16 – The film ‘The Lennon Report’, states that John was shot in his back.
Truth – The nurses from the Roosevelt Hospital, tried on multiple occasions to get this detail changed, to the front. The writer insisted he was going by what Wikipedia said. The nurses wittily retorted that Wikipedia was not in the room when they were trying to save John Lennon.

Myth 17 – The autopsy press conference, conducted by Chief Medical Examiner Elliot Gross, stated that Gross thought Lennon was shot two times in the back and two times in the shoulder.
True – This is true, but Gross was also accused on multiple counts of falsifying autopsies. Gross’ Lennon Death Certificate, also states that Lennon was shot in the chest.

Myth 18 – Chapman said he killed John Lennon to promote the Salinger book, ‘Catcher in the Rye’.
Truth – Chapman did initially state promotion of the Salinger book as a reason for killing John Lennon, alongside seeing Lennon as a phony - an accusation also inspired by the book. But, this quickly morphed into ‘demons’ making him commit the murder. This morphed again in 1992, to killing John Lennon to ‘acquire his fame’. Catcher, demons and fame were all swirling around Chapman’s head in the years following Lennon’s murder, as reasons for why he thought he killed Lennon. Some could say that Chapman did not really know why he tried to kill John Lennon. A strange assessment for a man who we have been told on multiple occasions was a cold and calculated killer.

Myth 19 – The NYPD investigated the case thoroughly.
Truth – This is not true. Lieutenant Arthur O’Connor, chief of detectives at the station where Chapman was arrested, stated that he thought no proper investigation took place. Lennon’s blood was washed away from the scene the next morning. The infamous glass vestibule doors were taken down and thrown into the Dakota basement, just a couple days after the murder. No detectives were seen at the scene in the days after the murder. A crime report has never been released to the public.

Myth 20 – Lennon was not a threat to anybody in power when he was killed.
Truth – By December 1980, Lennon was back in the public eye and due to attend a rally in early 1981. Lennon had the power in the 1970’s to gather thousands of activists to his concerts and rallies. Lennon was anti-war, anti-religion and anti-capitalism. Many powerful people would have despised him for these beliefs.