As the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination looms, INSIDE EDITION has discovered the whereabouts of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s widow.
Marina Oswald is the widow of a notorious assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. She was recently filmed for the first time in over 17 years shopping at a WalMart like any other American housewife with her husband, Kenneth Porter.
Now 72, Marina still lives in a Dallas suburb, a half hour drive from the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated.
Her ranch style home is hidden behind a plethora of trees, a sign reads "Keep Out." Neighbors say she's a popular guest at weekend barbecues.
One neighbor told INSIDE EDITION, “She's a caring and loving person. That's what the world should see.”
Although she came to the U.S. from Russia with Oswald in 1962, Marina did not become a U.S. citizen until 1989, and we've learned she never visits Oswald’s grave.
After Oswald was silenced by an assassin's bullet, Marina became a key witness before the Warren Commission.
She was asked, “Marina, do you believe your husband killed President Kennedy?”
She said, “I don't want to believe but I have too many facts and facts tell me Lee shot Kennedy.”
But, over the years, Marina changed her mind and claimed her husband is innocent. She said, “He definitely did not fire the shots according to the evidence that I have right now.”
Philip Shenon is the author of an acclaimed new book, A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination.
Shenon told INSIDE EDITION, “On the staff of the Warren Commission there was a lot of suspicion about Mrs. Oswald. Like she was some sort of secret agent.”
With the 50th anniversary of the assassination approaching, Marina Oswald is back in the public eye.
Just last week she sold Oswald’s wedding ring for $108,000.
Auctioneer Bobby Livingstone told INSIDE EDITION, “I don't think it's an attempt to exploit anything. She's 72, she's on a fixed income and she wants nothing to do with the ring.”
Along with the ring Marina sold a five page handwritten letter which read, “At this time of my life I don't wish to have Lee's ring in my possession because I want to let go of my past that is connecting with Nov. 22. Sincerely, Marina Oswald Porter.”
The home where Oswald and Marina spent their last night together is now a museum, its rooms are eerily exactly as they were on November 22, 1963.
Marina and Oswald had two daughters, June and Rachel. Both girls grew up with the shame of being the children of a despised assassin.
June Oswald spoke about that on the Today show in 1993, “Growing up it's something that was always there. I was June Oswald. When we went to stores there would always be pokes and ‘Oh! That's Marina Oswald!’”
Marina is played by actress Michelle Trachtenberg in the made for TV movie Killing Kennedy, which airs on National Geographic Channel November 10th.
The real Marina is now an elderly woman reflecting on a life as an innocent bystander to history.
