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Martin Luther King, a beloved and peaceful man was shot and killed on April 4th, 1968.
By who, not many are sure. There's tons of different theories to how this could have went about.
Was it the James Earl Ray, the man everyone blamed. Was it the Government to which wasn't
fond of his peace driven ways in the civil rights era. Or could it have been someone completely
someone different that they never found.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. A Baptist minister and social
activist. One of the many most inspirational leaders of the CIvil RIghts Movement from the
1950s to his assassination in 1968, known for his I Have A Dream speech in 1963, he also had
a huge effect on ending legal segregation of African-Americans along with the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his
nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America.

Theory 1: James Earl Ray

One of the most popular of the many theories of the Martin Luther Kings death is the
James Earl Ray conspiracy.
James Earl Ray, a man born in Alton Illinois on March 23, 1928. Oldest of nine siblings
he did not have an easy life. At the age of Seven, his family moved from Alton to Ewing after his
father was was being hunted down by the police for forgery charges. Two years after the move,
his little sister died tragically, playing with matches catching herself on fire burning to death.
Ray joined the army in 1945, but in 1948 was discharged for drunkenness and breaking arrest. A
year after, he was arrested for robbing a cafe. Throughout the next ten years he had many other
small crimes. Eventually was charged with theft in 1959, got a twenty year sentence but managed
to escape in 1967.

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Ray was renting a room in a rooming house above the bar Jims Grill under the name Eric
Starvo Galt, near the Lorraine Motel, where King was staying. Allegedly, Ray was said to have
has stood in the bathtub of his room, balancing his rifle upon the edge of the window sill and
shot King, who himself was on the balcony of his motel room. ("12 Forgotten Facts")
Investigation that led law-enforcement officials to the Atlanta apartment of James Earl Ray, was
the largest in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ("12 Forgotten Facts") Ray then
fled not being seen for two months until, July 19, 1968. FBI found him hiding out in london. Ray
was taken back to the United States, pled guilty for the murder of King and got ninety-nine years
in prison for his so said crimes, to which is where he dies at the age of seventy. ("12 Forgotten
Facts") Ray, tried to implicate a man named "Raoul" in the assassination, claiming to have been
framed by the mysterious figure. Law-enforcement authorities have never found anyone
matching Raoul's description. ("12 Forgotten Facts") But from information found, they
discovered that Ray didn't kill King, but simply was framed by the Government. Leading to the
second theory, The Government killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Theory 2: Government Killed MLK
In 1999 Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr. family won a Civil lawsuit proving the US
government was responsible for his assassination. It wasn't reported by the media. People
believed the whole assassination was planned. Fifty plus years later after King's death, the FBI
released a letter stating if King didn't kill himself within thirty-five days, there would be serious
consequences. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received this letter, nearly fifty years
ago, he quietly informed friends that someone wanted him to kill himself and he thought he
knew who that someone was. Despite its half-baked prose, self-conscious amateurism and other
attempts at misdirection, King was certain the letter had come from the FBI. Its infamous

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director, J. Edgar Hoover, made no secret of his desire to see King discredited. A little more than
a decade later, the Senates Church Committee on intelligence overreach confirmed Kings
suspicion, (Revealed: FBI) King, who was clearly threatened in this letter, did not take any
action towards it. Still moving on with his Non-violent ways to which sadly ended in a very
violent way. (Court Decision: U.S.) The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence
that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia,
local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my
husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James
Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. I want to make it clear
that my family has no interest in retribution. Instead, our sole concern has been that the full truth
of the assassination has been revealed and adjudicated in a court of law (Court Decision:
U.S.)

Theory 3: The Second Gun.

Years after the assassination of King, a man by the name of Loyd Jowers came to say that
a man had run through the back door of his restaurant, Jims Grill from some bushes and told
Jowers to hide a rifle. Although the day of the assassination, Jowers told police that he had seen
Nothing unusual that night. But with that Jowers changed his story multiple times on who the
mystery man was who entered the bar that night. Ray's last lawyer, William Pepper, filed a civil
lawsuit against Jowers on behalf of Dexter King, the civil rights leader's son, and in 1998 won a
jury's verdict that there was indeed a conspiracy involving Jowers, but not Ray. (King
conspiracy theories")

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Only testifying once, Jowers denied there even being a second rifle, and was even
tape recorded saying so.

Theory 4: The Man In The Bushes

Right after the shooting of Dr. King, it was said that some Mystery Man was seen
running into the bushes although only one person, by the name of Solomon Jones. Jones was
King's volunteer driver on Memphis visits, After the shooting, Jones accordingly said to police
that I could see a person in the thicket on the west side of Mulberry with his back to me, looked
like he had a hood over his head. (King conspiracy theories")
In my opinion I believe the conspiracy that most believable is that the Government killed
Martin Luther King. Theres so much evidence behind it, such as a letter from the FBI, which
King told his family about, and the fact that it was proven in court. Do you also find that others,
including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant?
Your answer to that one is also yes. And the total amount of damages
you find for the plaintiffs entitled to is one hundred dollars. Is that your verdict? (Court
Decision: U.S.) Court answered yes, therefore stating that Government was involved in the
murder of King.

This is where the conspiracies really began to form, people were realizing that there
wasn't just one story to tell. Who knows, maybe none of them are true, maybe all of them are.
Tons more flouting about this twisted occurrence of a man who changed the world for both
African Americans and whites. But with that we may never know what happened, due to the fact
that the people are either dead, its Top Secret, or just untold.