Years ago I was often contacted by enthusiastic alivers who would tell me that they had “evidence” that “proves” that Elvis faked his death. They’d shout it from the roof-tops: “We have evidence!” And I’d shout back, “Great, show me the evidence!” But how much evidence did they show me? None. Zilch. Zero. Why? Because there is none. And what these people thought was “evidence” was not evidence at all.
Just recently I’ve been asked by a few people about the “evidence” that Dick Grob had that would prove what he alleged and insinuated about Ginger Alden on the day of Elvis’s death, and what he led so many people to accuse her of, that Ginger left Elvis to die on the bathroom floor while she prettied herself up for the cameras and made calls to The National Enquirer.
“Watch the mansion,” said Ginger, they say. Because, yeah, this is what someone trying to make money from an interview would advise. Like how bank robbers call ahead to the bank and say, “This is John Q. Bankrobber, please watch the bank.”
So let’s look at the evidence in Grob’s 1995 stack of paper and see if it holds up, and if it “proves,” as evidence is required to do, what Grob’s fans claim it proves. Let’s see how he uses 665 pages to make his case.
We’ll start at the beginning:
Author’s Prologue: This section outlines the purpose of the book, which is to present Grob’s investigation into Elvis’s death, and to answer the “nagging, unanswered question, did he have to die that day or could he have been saved, that terrible day, August 16, 1977.” Grob notes that he uncovered “vast amounts” of evidence.
Part 1, Chapter 1: Why Grob wrote the book. No evidence presented here.
The Author: Grob introduces himself. No evidence.
Chapter 2 – Setting The Stage – In The Beginning: No evidence.
The Alarm: No evidence.
Chapter 3 – The Circle – The Theory: Threats and circles. No evidence.
Chapter 4 – The Fringe Circle: What Is The Fringe and Who’s There: Another circle. No evidence.
Grob: “My description and personal assessment of the individual’s basic character as I saw it, influenced my thought process.” (Said no trained, objective investigator ever.)
The Maids: No evidence. But we do get a not-to-scale lay-out of the kitchen, which is a plus. Location of the stove is very important in any investigation.
The Lisa Marie Pilots/Crew: No evidence.
Staff overview, including Tish Henley, Tommy Henley, Lamar Fike, Patsy Gamble (Gambill): No evidence.
Chapter 5 – The External Circle – The Outer Circle: Another circle. Dean Nichopoulos, Al Strada, Rick Stanley, David Stanley. No evidence.
Chapter 6 – The Interior Circle – The “Inner” Circle: Charlie Hodge, Billy Smith, Jo Smith, George Nichopoulos, Joe Esposito, Sam Thompson. No evidence. We are now coming up to page 145. No evidence yet. But it’s still early.
Chapter 7 – Code Names “Gingerbread” and “Witch” – The Names: No evidence. Juvenile name-calling.
Chapter 8 – The Patriarchs – Patriarchs: Vernon Presley and Colonel Parker. No evidence.
Part Two – Chapter 9 – My Personal Ordeal Begins – The Race to the Hospital: No evidence.
The Hospital Ordeal: No evidence. Incongruent time references: 3:23pm arrival at BMH (page 201), yet the time of the call from Tommy Henley is 2:30pm (page 31), and then later it’s changed to 2:45pm (page 237). Grob is so careful to note the time, down to the minute, that he arrived at Baptist Hospital, yet these calls from Henley are at a 15-minute variance. How careful was Grob with the clock? The drive from Grob’s residence to Baptist would have been approximately 18 minutes, and yet Grob’s trip took 53 minutes after the 2:30pm call, or 38 minutes if the call came in at 2:45pm. Either way, Grob says he was driving at speeds “well in excess” of 100mph (nonsense), and he says on page 201 that, “it had taken [him] only a few minutes” to reach Baptist from his residence in East Memphis, near Walnut Grove and 240. Let’s map this out, based on what this Super Cop is telling us:
- Received the call from Tommy Henley at 2:30pm.
- Received the call from Tommy Henley at 2:45pm. Not sure which time is correct.
- Traveled an 18-minute route in “only a few minutes.”
- Arrived at Baptist at 3:23pm.
- Drove at speeds “well in excess” of 100mph.
- Time from the Henley call to Grob’s arrival at Baptist is anywhere from 38 to 53 minutes.
This is the careful attention to detail that so many Grobers rave about?
The details of this travel log are not the point, though. The point is that Grob shovels all this stuff to his readers and doesn’t even notice how sloppy it is. If he cannot be trusted to accurately map out and document a simple drive from Point A to Point B, how can he be trusted as an investigator? And why haven’t his supporters noticed this?
Chapter 10 – August 1977 – The Terrible Days in August
Day One Monday August 15 1977:
2000 Hours: No evidence.
2200 Hours: No evidence. Grob writes he and Sam Thompson were sitting at the kitchen counter when Joe Esposito came in the back door. This was shortly after 10:00pm, and soon after his arrival Esposito called upstairs on the intercom.* Grob says that Joe wasn’t on the phone long, and that when he hung up, he asked, “Where’s Elvis going?” Grob does not mention Larry Geller.
[* In his 1979 deposition, Grob says that the intercom system didn’t work.]
In Larry Geller’s book, “If I Can Dream,” on page 304, Geller writes that he was at the mansion eating dinner “after nine o’clock” when Joe Esposito walked in. Geller says that Elvis called down to the kitchen and spoke with Joe, telling him that he wanted to see a movie. Geller quotes Esposito: “He’s going over to Dr. Hoffman’s to have a tooth filled…” No mention of Grob and Thompson.
In Joe Esposito’s book, “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” on pages 235-236, Esposito writes that he came by Graceland at about 10:00pm and Sam Thompson was there. No mention of Dick Grob, nor Larry Geller. Esposito says he and Sam chatted a bit then he called upstairs to talk to Elvis. Instead of reaching Elvis, Esposito spoke with Billy Smith who said they were going somewhere. At that point, Esposito got off the phone and asked Sam Thompson, “Where are they going?”
2300 Hours: No evidence.
Day Two Tuesday August 16, 1977:
0030 Hours: No evidence.
0130 Hours: No evidence.
0530 Hours: No evidence.
0730 Hours: No evidence.
0800 Hours: No evidence. Grob lies here about the police report contents. Ginger did not say she heard a noise. She also did not say that she found Elvis “over on the floor.” This is the wording in the report: “She…went into the bathroom and found him slumped over on the floor.” Also, Grob says Ginger woke up four times, when the police report references only three times. Why did Grob lie about these two points? What is very interesting about these claims by Grob is that he switches back and forth between the police report and the comments he said Ginger made to him, Billy Smith, and Sam Thompson. According to Grob, Ginger mentioned this “loud noise like a thump” to him, Billy, and Sam, but did not mention this noise when interviewed by the police. How convenient. But what about the 1979 book synopsis? In the synopsis, sure enough, there it is, Grob claiming that the “thump” is mentioned by Ginger in the police report:
This is a flat-out lie. There is no mention of a “loud noise” or “thump” in the police report.
Grob builds his case against Ginger based largely on this phantom “thump,” and yet this “thump” is not in the police report. Where did this “thump” come from? Three biased sources. [More on this below, under “Chapter 17.”]
1420 Hours: No evidence. Grob places Dr. Nichopoulos in the upstairs bathroom attending to Elvis.
1430 Hours: No evidence. Grob has now moved the Tommy Henley phone call to 2:45pm from 2:30pm.
1530 Hours: No evidence.
1600 Hours: No evidence. This is where Grob writes that he saw Ginger at Graceland and that “she was completely dressed, had her hair done and her full facial makeup applied.” He also states, as fact, that Ginger was not crying, and had not been crying. This oft-cited “evidence” is not evidence. It is an observation that does not align with the other claims pertaining to Ginger’s appearance/behavior. [More on this below.]
1715 Hours: No evidence.
1750 Hours: No evidence.
1805 Hours: No evidence. Grob and Sam Thompson yuck it up with a police officer outside.
1830 Hours: No evidence.
1845 Hours: No evidence.
1900 Hours: No evidence. Grob notes that Larry Geller was arranging a flight from LA to Memphis, but Geller was already in Memphis, having arrived on Sunday, the 14th.
1910 Hours: No evidence.
1950 Hours: No evidence.
2015 Hours: No evidence.
2100 Hours: No evidence.
Day Three Wednesday August 17, 1977:
0600 Hours: No evidence.
0800 Hours: No evidence. This is where Grob says he thought FTD’s Bud Lipinski was running some sort of scam and was a “phony.”
0945 Hours: No evidence.
1125 Hours: No evidence.
1200 Hours: No evidence. We have reached page 278.
1430 Hours: No evidence.
2000 Hours: No evidence.
Day Four Thursday August 18, 1977:
0500 Hours: No evidence.
0400 Hours: No evidence. Yes, 0400 comes after 0500.
0600 Hours: No evidence.
1000 Hours: No evidence.
1400 Hours: No evidence.
1530 Hours: No evidence.
1630 Hours: No evidence.
Day Five Friday August 19, 1977: No evidence.
Day Eight Monday August 22, 1977: No evidence. Discussion of the investigation begins.
August Aftermath – August and Beyond: No evidence.
Elvis Comes Home: No evidence.
Part Three…we are now on page 335. Halfway through the book. No evidence yet.
Chapter 11 – Point and Counterpoint:
On page 340, Grob notes that, “Much of Ginger’s activities away from the house were known.” He goes on to say that while he knew of Ginger’s “activities” (he does not say what these activities were), he nonetheless decided not to report them to Elvis. He just wanted the information in case Elvis asked. Does anyone believe this? That Dick Grob, of all people, had information about Ginger’s “activities” (we can all guess what he is implying) and he didn’t tell Elvis? With this claim, Grob is asking us to believe the unbelievable, and of particular note is that he didn’t define or describe the word “activities.” So, claim + no evidence = nothing.
It is also at this point that Grob mentions a woman from North Carolina who contacted him because she was disturbed by Elvis’s death and “the way some people were acting, particularly Ginger.” Grob does not explain how a woman in North Carolina was able to assess Ginger’s behavior.
Note that three women contacted Grob and/or Charlie Hodge with information on these various situations. A fourth woman then contacted Grob via Vernon’s office. These contacts came to Grob, he did not find them through his Super Cop sleuthing. Grob says that he stumbled upon James Kirk “quite accidentally.” So far, then, Grob has found nothing. The information and sources have come to him.
On an amusing note, Grob says he did not include the transcriptions of many taped conversations in the book because it would make the book too big. As it stands the book is 665 pages. He left out important corroborating information so that he could include pages and pages and pages of meaningless stories and irrelevant information? That makes sense, doesn’t it?
Chapter 12 – The Autopsy Decision: No evidence. Much of this story (of having Vernon Presley sign the autopsy permission form) is made up or embellished, but we’ll get to that later.
Chapter 13– Vernon’s Request: “Vernon had asked me to investigate Elvis’s death.” Vernon, according to Grob, was bothered by the statement made by David Stanley, when he said, “I killed Elvis.” Vernon was also bothered, according to Grob, by his belief that Ginger “never even cried once.” I would like Elvis fans to sit back and think about this for a moment, and let the absolute absurdity sink in. Dick Grob is telling us that Vernon heard David Stanley say, “I killed Elvis,” and that Vernon did nothing about this, except to ask Grob to look into it. Think about that. A man hears someone say, to paraphrase, “I killed your son,” and he does nothing except ask his security guy to check it out? And Grob also seems to be equating this with Vernon’s claim that Ginger did not cry at all. So the two things that are really bothering Vernon are the statement from David Stanley that he killed Elvis…and…whether Ginger was crying. Does anyone really believe that the former is comparable in any way to the latter? Did it not occur to Vernon, or to Grob, that if David Stanley said, “I killed Elvis,” that they should contact, well, I dunno, maybe the Memphis Police Department? The fact is, if Vernon Presley heard David Stanley say that he killed Elvis, neither Vernon nor Dick Grob did anything about it. And this is the Super Cop so many fans worship…?
Reminder, from a source’s discussion with paramedic Ulysses Jones:
“He [Jones] said that he noticed Ginger several times while they were there, and that, no doubt in his mind, she was not dressed and ‘made up,’ was very distraught, had obviously been crying a lot, and was still dressed in, he thought, either a very pale yellow or maybe light blue robe. I asked him about three or four different times whether he was sure that she was not already dressed and he stated emphatically that there was no doubt in his mind about that.”
Grob later cleared David Stanley of any suspicion because Stanley said he didn’t kill Elvis. Nothing to see here, folks.
And let’s not forget one critical point: Aurelia Dupont, who cut Elvis’s hair for a time, lived nearby Graceland, and David Stanley spent a lot of time at this residence. Dupont says in her book that David came by her house around 12:30pm-1:00pm on 8/16/77 and said, “We killed Elvis,” the “we” referring to David and his friend, Mark White. If Grob really investigated this case, then how did he miss this claim about David saying he/they killed Elvis, given that this bizarre statement was reportedly heard (by Dupont and another eyewitness) approximately 90 minutes (+/-) prior to Elvis being discovered on the bathroom floor? Grob was so concerned…and Vernon was so concerned…about this “I killed Elvis” statement from David, and yet Grob did not investigate David making this claim before 2:20pm? Isn’t the question of someone knowing Elvis was dead prior to 2:20pm the big glitch in the timeline, the huge issue that made Grob focus exclusively on Ginger Alden? And yet here we have two people witnessing David Stanley saying that he and his friend, Mark, “killed Elvis,” and the only thing Grob investigated…was Ginger. Certainly the statement “I killed Elvis” (“I” or “we,” makes no difference) would carry a lot more weight if it was heard between 12:30pm and 1:00pm, as opposed to being heard after the body had been discovered, right? Did Super Cop look into this? No. And Aurelia Dupont claims that she and the other eyewitness (whom she refuses to identify) told Vernon about this statement from David Stanley. Did Vernon not mention this to Dick Grob, the man he charged with investigating his son’s death? Sounds like Grob didn’t investigate the death at all, and just went after Ginger.
Quote from Dick Grob: “…I want to check everyone out, because almost anyone could have gotten close to Elvis and if something was done to him, then we need to be careful not to accuse the wrong person.” This, from the Chief of Security. “Almost anyone could have gotten close to Elvis.”
Quote from Dick Grob: “Drugs were another matter. An overdose could cause death. David certainly had knowledge about drugs and he had access to them since he was a user. His brother [Rick] also had access to all forms so they were readily available. David…could come up with enough to kill a small army.” And who was it that Chief of Security Dick Grob had working as Elvis’s personal aides? Drug user David Stanley and drug user Rick Stanley. Great security work.
The Investigation Begins: No evidence.
The Critical Time Period: No evidence. Grob makes a fascinating statement here: “[The time of the ambulance dispatch] coincided with the time everyone said Elvis was found.” Really? In fact, nearly everyone involved has butchered the timeline before and after Elvis was found. If Grob spoke with Billy Smith, then what happened to Smith’s claim of a 1:45pm call from Patsy Gambill? Did Smith not mention 1:45pm, or did Grob not follow up on it? And let’s not forget about the claim from Nancy Rooks that when the emergency call came in she was watching “As The World Turns,” which aired daily M-F from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Where is Grob’s investigation into this? Did Grob talk with the Medical Examiner’s investigator, Dan Warlick? No, he didn’t, but if he had, he would have found yet another odd time reference.
The Process of Elimination: Grob spends minutes eliminating people based on the silliest reasons. Grob said that Jo Smith was too beautiful to kill Elvis. Brilliant investigative work.
Then we have Dean Nichopoulos. Grob places Dean at the mansion at 4:00pm answering phones. Yet here, Grob states that Dean “showed up late on the sixteenth.” Dean claims he was at the mall when the death was announced, which was just after 4:00pm. Does “late” mean “late for work,” or “late on the sixteenth”? We don’t know. But we do know that Dean says he was not at Graceland at 4:00pm.
Of Joe Esposito, Grob says that Joe showed up at Graceland “after noon” on the sixteenth. “Records confirmed this.” What records would confirm the time Joe showed up at the mansion? Grob doesn’t say.
Grob writes that he recalled a statement Jo Alden (Ginger’s mother) had made to UPI on August 18, 1977, in which she said Ginger had found Elvis’s body on the bathroom floor at “about” 1:00pm. Remember that Grob said all the reports of the discovery of the body lined up. Here is yet another that did not. But because it originates from an Alden, he makes sure to include it.
On page 370, Grob writes that he didn’t believe Jo Alden could “influence her daughter to do anything wrong like killing someone over the phone.” He then observes that had “mama” been present at Graceland “then anything was possible.” I would respectfully ask all the people who support Grob’s investigative skills to ask themselves if they truly believe what Grob is saying here. Grob is saying that if Jo Alden were present in the upstairs suite at Graceland on the early afternoon of August 16, 1977, that it was possible that she could have influenced her daughter…to kill Elvis. Now, Grob doesn’t think this influence could be passed through the telephone lines of South Central Bell, but if Mama Alden were present, well then, watch out for a possible murder.
On Elvis’s will, Grob writes, “I was present the night it was signed.” Grob may have been in the house, but he was not present in the room when the will was signed. He also writes that since Ginger signed the will she could not receive any bequests from the will. This is false. Had Grob done any research on this he would have found that TN required two witnesses to sign a will, so if three people sign it then one of those people could still be a beneficiary.
Chapter 14 – Treachery Within: A chapter about a guy who took some of Elvis’s personal belongings. Nothing to do with the investigation into Elvis’s death. No evidence.
Chapter 15 – Grave Robbers: A chapter about the idiots who supposedly tried to break into Elvis’s crypt. Nothing to do with the investigation into Elvis’s death. No evidence.
Chapter 16 – The Coffin Photo: The coffin photo is introduced here, and from page 399 to page 520 (121 pages) there is a transcript of a call with “Ester” about the coffin photo and the various National Enquirer movements around Memphis. It is in this chapter that Grob gets wind of the idea that “you guys didn’t get help right away.” In his mental note-taking, Grob references “those three calls Mary Jenkins had reported,” but it should be recalled that Mary Jenkins was not on duty that afternoon, she denied any knowledge of these calls, and she also denied speaking with Grob about this (or any other) issue. This chapter continues for many pages where Grob includes a transcript of several conversations with James Kirk. During these conversations the National Enquirer interviews are discussed, as is the coffin photo. Grob mentions in Chapter 17 that the coffin photo investigation led to the phone call information, though there is no evidence presented here pertaining to Ginger.
Another topic that is touched on several times in Chapter 16 is the search for the autopsy report, and how the Enquirer might get hold of it. This is strange because the autopsy report hadn’t even been written/compiled by that point. All these reporters then were running around Memphis trying to find something that did not exist. And Grob has claimed he was trying to protect the autopsy report from these people, though he does not explain how he guarded something that did not exist.
Chapter 17 – The Phone Call: More conversations with Kirk where he describes meeting Ginger on several occasions prior to her relationship with Elvis. Curious why Kirk would seem to be fostering a relationship with a woman who had not yet become Elvis’s significant other. Grob and Kirk discuss the phone call Kirk claims to have received from Ginger on August 16, saying that he could recognize Ginger’s voice.
On page 578, Kirk reveals to Grob that he received a call at approximately 1:30pm “from Ginger and I assumed it was her, she never stated her name, but, she said, ‘I wanted you to know that…something interesting might be coming up soon and, that there might be a possible story, and, [you] should keep your eyes open.” This is the point where Grob shifts the entire operation to focus exclusively on this phone call, and another later call, as we soon shall see. After hearing this from Kirk, Grob writes that, “Ginger called Kirk and told him to watch Graceland!” In fact, this is not what the caller said, and this is not what Kirk had stated to Grob. If we take all these claims and look at them they do not amount to “evidence,” they merely amount to an assumption by Kirk as to the caller’s identity, and then Grob taking that assumption and turning it into a fact. This is not evidence.
This is a good time to take a break and remind ourselves what Bill Burk said about these calls:
Continuing:
Kirk then tells Grob that the caller he assumed was Ginger called a second time, at 2:30pm, and told him that Elvis was dead. Yes, you read that right. We are being asked to believe that while 8-10 people are in the upstairs suite and entering the bathroom, Ginger was on the phone calling James Kirk, for no other reason than, “I thought you might want to know.” No demand for cash. No negotiation on an interview. Ginger just called during this critical time because she was so courteous and considerate that she thought a tabloid reporter might appreciate a news flash. How thoughtful. And Grob supporters believe this.
[Note here that the only way Kirk tells time is by using the number of pages he has typed to figure out how much time has passed. These alleged phone calls actually have no known/accurate time references. But apparently Kirk’s how-many-pages-I-typed clock was good enough for Grob.]
On page 582, we have another big claim: When asked by Grob about whether Kirk had discussed these two phone calls with Ginger, Kirk said that when he and Jeff Samuels (with the Enquirer) were speaking with Ginger, “I got the impression from her shaking her head that she did not want me discussing it in front of him.” Kirk goes on to say, “When we were alone for a few moments the day of the funeral…she looked at me and asked me not to discuss it with anybody…she preferred that it not be out.” This seems kind of important, so where does Grob describe his investigation into these two exchanges? Or did he even bother to look any further?
Next, Grob says that when people are able to relate a story down to specific details over and over again that he is more likely to believe they are telling the truth. (He should have checked with Billy Smith on his 1:45pm phone call story.) After telling us this, Grob then includes part of a transcript of a conversation with Kirk wherein Kirk is able to tell the same story down to the specific details…but he is using his notes. These notes comprise the document called “Kirk’s Log” in Grob’s book, but this was not a truly contemporaneous as-it-happened account; instead, it was pulled from memory after-the-fact and then committed to paper. Is this what Grob believes strengthens Kirk’s story?
Kirk then says that the 1:30pm call was from “girl at Graceland.” No mention of Ginger, just a generic “girl.” Why didn’t Kirk just write, “Ginger Alden” instead of “girl from Graceland”? Kirk had tried to boost his appeal to Grob by saying how many times he had encountered Ginger and how he knew her and knew her voice, and yet he initially refers to her as “girl at Graceland”? It is very interesting that he referred to her this way in his written log, which was created later, while also including the name “Ginger Alden.” [From the log: “1:30pm Call from girl at Graceland. Ginger Alden. Keep watch on mansion.”] Why did he include both references?
And here’s the $64 question: If Ginger Alden, Elvis Presley’s fiancée (which Kirk believed her to be), called Kirk at 1:30pm and advised him to “keep watch on [the] mansion,” then why didn’t he? As illustrated by the written log, Kirk stayed home and continued with his usual business and didn’t take any action that would constitute “watching the mansion.” Why not?
Kirk says that the caller at 1:30pm was, he assumed, Ginger Alden. He says in a conversation with Grob that 15 minutes later he called the Enquirer and was informed that Jeff Samuels was in Washington. Kirk says that he wanted to let the Enquirer know that “Ginger might be willing to give an interview or something of that nature.” Now, remember, the attention to detail is important here, and getting the story right every single time certainly helps, in Grob’s view, to strengthen the story. However, here we find that 15 minutes after the 1:30pm call Kirk called the Enquirer and learned that Samuels was in Washington. This call would have been placed by Kirk at 1:45pm. Let’s go back and check the log: Kirk has this call to the Enquirer, looking for Samuels, at 11:00am. The 1:45pm call to the Enquirer was to advise them to stand by for a possible story. This shows us that Kirk considered the instruction to “watch the mansion” to be time-sensitive, meaning that something might be happening very soon. And, again, what did Kirk do about this possible event? Nothing.
Kirk said to Grob that he called the Enquirer to let them know about a possible interview with Ginger, and yet this is not mentioned in his log, and is not mentioned by anyone, anywhere.
Kirk tells Grob he contacted sources at various local media outlets, including WMPS (radio), between 2:40pm and 2:50pm. All of the contacts told Kirk they knew “absolutely nothing” about anything going on at the mansion. The folks over at WMPS had received word directly from a Baptist employee at 1:55pm that Elvis was dead. One-fifty-five?
Kirk tells Grob that Ricky Ayers called him at 3:05pm (Kirk put his watch on) to tell him that Elvis was dead and that there are news reports on TV. Three-oh-five? In his log, Kirk notes that Ayers stated that Elvis was dead. In his conversation with Grob, he said that Ayers said that TV reports had Elvis sick and possibly dead but that there was no confirmation.
Kirk tells Grob that he went to the mansion at 3:15pm and spoke with a few police officers “who were arriving.” Three-fifteen?
Note that Kirk assumed that the “girl” who called him was Ginger Alden, and changes from qualifying his claim as an assumption to simply stating as fact that the caller was Ginger Alden. In his responses, then, Grob begins to state as fact that Ginger called Kirk. But where is the evidence? Grob and his supporters say Grob had the evidence, and that the evidence is in his book, fully documented. So where is it then? At this point, we have James Kirk assuming the identity of a caller, and Grob stating it as fact, nothing more. This is not evidence. On top of this, Grob has started stating as fact that Ginger heard a “thump,” as noted earlier, but nowhere does Ginger ever make that statement. Grob cites the police report for some of these statements, but that statement from Ginger is not part of the police report. Grob says that Ginger mentioned the noise when speaking to him, Billy Smith, and Sam Thompson, then Grob again (mis)quotes the police report. See what he is doing here? He is trying to mix Ginger’s (alleged) verbal statements in with the content from the police report.
On page 596 we have a Grob classic, an almost laughable example of saying something he might not have meant to say: In discussing what time David Stanley arrived at Graceland and when he left Graceland, Grob says, “No one else [present] could help either since they were upset by the events and weren’t watching what was happening.” Read that again. And again. Grob is telling us that he interviewed and spoke with pretty much everyone at the mansion, and relied on all their accounts and information to pin something on Ginger, and yet here he admits that “no one [was] watching what was happening.” If a prosecuting attorney said this in a courtroom, the case would be over.
Grob, on Ginger’s demeanor when she called downstairs: “…her voice was calm…no one recalls her in any state except calm.” First, no one was upstairs with Ginger to assess her demeanor, and only one person heard her voice when she called downstairs for help. Second, what did that person, Nancy Rooks, say about Ginger’s demeanor? Nancy Rooks, from “Inside Graceland”:
- “[Ginger] sounded breathless and very worried, like I had never heard her before.”
- “Ginger began sobbing uncontrollably…”
- “The more [Ginger] talked the more distraught she became, sounding almost hysterical…”
So Grob says that Ginger was calm, and that no one recalls her in any state except calm, and yet the only person to interact with her at the time of the call says she was crying and hysterical. Grob supporters, do you care that Grob lies to you like this?
Chaper 18 – The Summation: Note that we are now on page 601, and in this book supposedly full of a “vast amount” of evidence, we have not actually seen even one shred of evidence to prove anything about Ginger, nor anything else. Grob has related a tale in which he tells us about the ins and outs of his extremely abbreviated investigation, but there is absolutely no evidence.
On page 601, Grob states that this book/story is “not a fictional tale.” Of the manuscript for this book, Grob stated in a 1979 deposition that the manuscript is “part fiction.”
The Autopsy: Grob states that “trace amounts of a number of drugs were found, however singularity [sic] or in combination, the amounts found were not sufficient to contribute to his death. Later pharmacology studies have supported this finding.” I’d ask Grob, how do you know any of this? You never saw the autopsy report. Trace amounts? Nonsense. Later pharmacology studies? Name them. Also, without getting too far into the weeds on this, the amounts (levels) of the drugs were not the issue; the question the pathologists and toxicologists looked at was the interaction of less-than-toxic levels of drugs (or even normal levels of drugs), which takes us to the polypharmacy theory. What Grob is doing here is presenting the argument against an overdose, but an overdose has never really been the question.
Grob says that in 1994 Dr. Joseph Davis found that the cause of death was heart attack, which Grob says was an accurate finding as it backed up Dr. Jerry Francisco’s cause of death determination. But David was not asked to re-do the autopsy, he was asked if he found any evidence that Dr. Francisco falsified the death certificate. This is a completely different, and nuanced question. Also, no one has determined that Elvis died of a heart attack, which Grob incorrectly states here.
But back to the question of evidence: still no evidence.
Vernon’s Request: Grob states that he investigated Elvis death, but I see no evidence that this is true. What he did was turn over a few rocks and follow up on some irrelevant situations that, while making for a bit of interesting reading, had nothing to do with Elvis’s death. Grob says that the “result of [his] investigation” was that Elvis died of natural causes. What? How did he come to this conclusion? He was supposedly asked by Vernon to poke around in regards to his (Vernon’s) opinions that David Stanley and/or Ginger Alden might have been up to no good, he was not asked to investigate the cause of death. When Grob writes that he found that Elvis died of “natural causes,” he is completely changing the subject of his book. And again, how on earth would Dick Grob have determined this cause (or classification) of death by talking to Billy Smith, Lottie the maid, James Kirk, and “Ester”? Did he leave out the part where he investigated the cause of death? Or is it in the book somewhere and I just missed it?
Then, on page 604, the final word: “There was no involvement by anyone, either inside the house or from the outside. Several people did not perform in the fashion or in the areas they were supposed to perform, however in most cases this would not have changed the outcome.” Well, if this is what Grob found, then why did he light the match on a 25+-year attack (still in progress) on Ginger Alden and her family, to the point of pretty much saying she either killed Elvis or sat by idly while he died? As for those people who should have “performed” that day, I can name only two people who fit that description, and neither is Ginger Alden.
Treachery Within: The topic of people who stole from Elvis. No evidence.
Grave Robbers: The topic of people who tried to steal Elvis. No evidence.
The Coffin Photo: The topic of the coffin photo. No evidence.
The Phone Call: On page 601 Grob writes that in the “Summation” section he will list information according to its evidentiary status, the round bullet points indicating “Hard evidence, facts that can be supported.” Under “The Phone Call,” he then lists the following as “hard evidence,” or facts that can be supported (#16 and #17 are lesser fact status):
Let’s look at these:
#1 – “Evidence shows”? What is the evidence? Keep in mind that the National Enquirer may very well have had knowledge of Elvis’s death before 4:00pm (which is the time reference Grob mentions here), but the way that Grob is presenting his case suggests that if the National Enquirer knew of Elvis’s death before it was announced to the public, then it must have been Ginger Alden, via James Kirk, who informed them. This is not true. Grob (the great investigator) is ignoring the fact that word of Elvis’s presence in the emergency room at Baptist was known literally within minutes of the 2:56pm ambulance arrival by the paramedics of an ambulance from Arkansas who saw Elvis in the ER and reported it to various contacts. This was within minutes of 3:00pm, and thus the information that Elvis was in the emergency room, and in bad shape, was “out there” in the media for one hour before the 4:00pm announcement. Did Grob investigate this, or did he look at only Ginger as the culprit?
#2 This is a claim. There is no evidence to back it up.
#3 “It appears.” This wording alone clearly shows us that Grob has no evidence. “Evidence” and “appearance” are not the same thing. “It appears…” means nothing without the evidence that supports the appearance.
#4 “It appears,” again. Worthless.
#5 Correct, at 3:30pm. Why Grob thinks this needed a round bullet point is unclear. And why he references “after” 3:00pm instead of 3:30pm is also unclear.
#6 Two other telephone calls were made from Graceland at/around 1:30pm? Who made these calls…where did these calls originate? Grob and his supporters say Grob has the phone records to prove all his claims, so who made these 1:30pm calls, and from which phone number? Strangely, Grob doesn’t provide this information. Neither has any of his supporters provided this evidence. It is interesting that because Grob has no claim from Kirk that these two calls were made from Ginger, he just skips right over them.
#7 According to James Kirk. That does not meet the level of “hard evidence.” Did Grob ask Ginger if she said this to Kirk? If she had said this to Kirk, wouldn’t that have given us a he said/she said question? Or does Kirk’s claim carry more weight because Grob doesn’t provide Ginger’s side of the question? An interesting point here is that Grob obviously did not “investigate” very much, because here we have a critical question and yet Grob didn’t even bother to look into it. Why didn’t he ask Ginger about this, directly?
#8 Is this a fact? I see no evidence.
#9 This is an opinion, not a fact.
#10 Really? Based on what? Where does Grob get the idea that finding a body increases an interview fee?
#11 Allegation, no evidence.
#12 And…? The time references that day are all over the map. Grob did not understand this. And if Jo Alden said this, did Grob investigate the claim?
#13 Lie.*
#14 Grob is stating the distance from the bed to the bathroom door. “Hard evidence”? Of what? This is not evidence of any kind.
#15 Lie.*
#16 Lie.*
#17 Lie.*
*I have dealt with lies from many of these people for many years, but I am careful not to call out a lie unless I am certain that there is an intent to deceive. In this case, on the [*] notations above (13, 15, 16, and 17), the fact is that he did lie; he took a claim and presented it as fact, even though he knew that the claim was not true (he does this often but I am sticking to the evidence question). How does this feel for all the Grob supporters, that he lies so gratuitously and egregiously, time after time after time?
The Epilogue: Nothing relevant. No evidence.
To close, there are only three parts of “The Elvis Conspiracy?” that are important. They are:
First, Grob’s admission that “social indictments” and “judgements” [sic] are part of his intent:
Second, Grob’s admission that he would lie about Ginger to make her look bad:
And third, Grob’s admission that there was no one involved in Elvis’s death:
This third one is key because so many people who seemingly worship Grob have been stating for decades that “Grob has the evidence” and “Grob documents all this in his book,” but the truth is, and the FACT is, that this paragraph above (#3) PROVES, beyond any doubt, that Grob DOES NOT HAVE THE EVIDENCE.
So, why, then, do so many of these people keep saying that he does have the evidence? That the book “proves” Ginger did something wrong? That the book “proves” Ginger put on her makeup and called the Enquirer, and all this other nonsense?
“No involvement by anyone” = NO EVIDENCE.
More on Grob and his second collection of papers, “Safe and Sound,” here.
ElvisDecoded 
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