FBI agent in JFK investigation dead

DALLAS, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The FBI agent who coordinated the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has died in Dallas at age 82.

Robert Perry Gemberling died Saturday of stomach cancer at his home, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Gemberling, who retired from the FBI in 1976, always believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the 1963 assassination in Dallas.

"The hype and publicity promoting conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination has seriously prevented the young minds of those born shortly before and after the assassination from knowing the truth about this tragic event -- all for the sake of the almighty dollar," he wrote in 1997.

Gemberling, a native of Emden, Ill., spent most of his 20 years with the FBI in Dallas coordinating the investigation. He also prepared reports for the Warren Commission, which conducted an independent investigation.

Gemberling served as a Marine during World War II, earning a Purple Heart after being wounded at Iwo Jima. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1949 and joined the FBI the next year.