Eyewitness Challenges Official Account of RFK Shooting

As a federal court prepared to evaluate a legal challenge to Sirhan Sirhan’s conviction for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, a long-overlooked witness came forward with a dramatic claim: she heard gunfire from two separate sources during the 1968 assassination, and federal investigators misrepresented her testimony.

Nina Rhodes-Hughes, who was present in the Ambassador Hotel kitchen pantry when Kennedy was fatally shot, insisted that Sirhan was not the sole person firing a weapon that night. She stated that another gunman was positioned to her right side and called for an end to what she described as decades of concealment.

Rhodes-Hughes recounted the harrowing details of the assassination in an exclusive media interview, expressing deep frustration with how authorities handled her account over the preceding four decades. She indicated that speaking publicly served both her personal healing and the broader pursuit of justice.

Legal Battle Over New Evidence and Witness Testimony

The U.S. District Court in Los Angeles was set to rule on a petition by the then-68-year-old Sirhan requesting release, a new trial, or an evidentiary hearing based on recently surfaced evidence, including Rhodes-Hughes’ firsthand account.

During his original 1969 trial, Sirhan’s defense attorneys did not dispute the prosecution’s narrative that their client acted as the lone gunman. Sirhan himself testified that he killed Kennedy “with 20 years of malice aforethought,” resulting in a death sentence later commuted to life imprisonment in 1972. He subsequently recanted that courtroom confession.

In federal court filings, California state prosecutors led by then-Attorney General Kamala Harris argued that even if a second gunman participated in the attack, Sirhan had not demonstrated his innocence and remained culpable under California’s vicarious liability statute. Sirhan’s defense team contested that interpretation of the law.

FBI Accused of Altering Witness Statements

Prosecutors contended that Rhodes-Hughes heard no more than eight gunshots, citing her as one of several witnesses who reportedly confirmed that only eight shots were fired from a single direction.

Sirhan’s defense attorneys, led by New York lawyer William Pepper, challenged those assertions directly. They argued in court filings that the FBI had falsified Rhodes-Hughes’ eyewitness account and that she actually reported hearing between 12 and 14 shots.

The defense team noted that Rhodes-Hughes had identified fifteen errors in the FBI’s documentation, including the bureau’s claim that she heard only eight shots, which she explicitly denied ever stating. Both the FBI and the California Attorney General’s office declined to comment on the dispute, citing the pending federal review.

Who Was Nina Rhodes-Hughes?

In 1968, Rhodes-Hughes was a working television actress who volunteered as a fundraiser for Kennedy’s presidential campaign. The FBI’s own report confirmed her presence inside the kitchen service pantry during the assassination, yet she maintained the bureau got critical details of her story wrong.

Rhodes-Hughes, then 78 years old, told reporters that she informed authorities in 1968 that the gunshot count exceeded eight — which would surpass the maximum capacity of Sirhan’s small-caliber handgun — and that some shots originated from a location different from where Sirhan stood.

Kennedy was the most gravely wounded among six people struck by gunfire inside the hotel pantry on June 5, 1968, moments after the New York senator celebrated his victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. He died the following day; all other victims survived.

The Los Angeles County coroner determined that three bullets entered Kennedy’s body while a fourth passed through his clothing without causing injury. Law enforcement declared these four bullets were among eight fired exclusively by Sirhan.

Rhodes-Hughes Disputes the Eight-Shot Narrative

Rhodes-Hughes called the FBI’s eight-shot claim completely false, accusing the bureau of twisting her words during a 1968 interview at her Los Angeles home. She stated she never told the agents she heard only eight shots and accused prosecutors of simply repeating the FBI’s flawed report.

She recalled telling the two agents that she counted between 12 and 14 shots, explaining that she retained the firing rhythm in her memory. She expressed a belief that senior FBI officials deliberately altered her statements to match the narrative they wanted the public to accept.

Defense attorney Pepper described the alleged manipulation of Rhodes-Hughes’ account as deplorable and criminal, stating it reflected a pattern experienced by other witnesses as well.

Additional Witnesses Reported More Than Eight Shots

Law enforcement had always maintained that exactly eight shots were fired, all from Sirhan’s weapon. However, interview summaries from the Los Angeles Police Department revealed that at least four other individuals told authorities they may have heard additional gunfire.

Jesse Unruh, then Speaker of the California Assembly, reported hearing a crackle of sounds he initially mistook for firecrackers while standing 20 to 30 feet behind Kennedy. He estimated the number somewhere between five and ten.

Frank Mankiewicz, Kennedy’s campaign press secretary, described hearing sounds resembling popping firecrackers and estimated he would have guessed around ten if they had actually been firecrackers.

Estelyn Duffy LaHive, a Kennedy supporter positioned just outside the pantry’s west entrance, told investigators she believed she heard at least about ten shots.

Booker Griffin, another supporter who had just entered through the east entrance, reported hearing two quick shots followed by a brief pause and then what sounded like ten or twelve additional shots.

Audio Recording Analysis Detects 13 Gunshots

A subsequently discovered audio recording of the shooting captured at least 13 distinct shot sounds within a span of less than six seconds. The tape was made at the Ambassador Hotel by freelance journalist Stanislaw Pruszynski and represents the only known audio documentation of the assassination.

Audio forensics expert Philip Van Praag reported that his computer analysis of waveform patterns on the Pruszynski recording conclusively identified the 13 sounds as gunshots, distinguishing them from other auditory phenomena such as camera flashbulbs, firecrackers, or bursting balloons.

Van Praag’s findings became a central point of contention in the federal court proceedings. Prosecutors argued his conclusions amounted to subjective interpretation not universally endorsed by acoustic specialists.

Evidence of Shots Fired From Two Separate Positions

While prosecutors argued that all gunfire originated from a single location, Rhodes-Hughes maintained that the initial two or three shots came from Sirhan’s position several feet ahead of her, but she also distinctly heard gunshots from her right side — near where Kennedy stood.

The coroner’s autopsy revealed that Kennedy was struck from behind, at the right rear, by four bullets fired at upward angles from point-blank range. Yet multiple witnesses described Sirhan firing somewhat downward, nearly horizontally, from several feet in front of the senator. No witness reported Kennedy’s back being exposed to Sirhan or his weapon.

Van Praag’s analysis of the Pruszynski recording further found that five of the 13 captured gunshots were fired from the opposite direction of Sirhan’s eight shots. He also determined those five shots displayed an acoustical frequency anomaly suggesting the alleged second weapon was a different make and model than Sirhan’s Iver Johnson revolver.

A Chance Encounter That Changed Rhodes-Hughes’ Life

Rhodes-Hughes’ connection to Robert Kennedy began two and a half years before the assassination during an unexpected meeting at NBC-TV studios in Burbank, California. She was preparing for her role in the daytime drama “Morning Star” when Kennedy entered the makeup room. She recalled being captivated by his presence, describing his deep-set blue eyes and magnetic personality.

The two discussed political issues while waiting for their respective television appearances. Rhodes-Hughes — then known professionally by her screen name Nina Roman — was struck by the senator’s willingness to engage in substantive conversation with a soap opera actress. She said Kennedy confided that he lacked her talent for rapid memorization, though his late brother, President John F. Kennedy, had possessed similar abilities.

That conversation sealed her commitment. She told the senator that if he ever sought the presidency, she would dedicate herself to his campaign. When Kennedy announced his candidacy in spring 1968, she helped establish a Los Angeles support group called “Young Professionals for Kennedy” and assisted with fundraising for the California primary.

The Night of the Assassination

Rhodes-Hughes had made a commitment to Kennedy aide Pierre Salinger to intercept the senator after his victory speech and guide him to a backstage area. Despite carefully positioning herself with another volunteer, the opportunity slipped away when Kennedy was directed down a corridor toward the kitchen pantry.

She recalled shouting after the senator and his escorts, urging them to turn back, but they continued in the wrong direction. After entering the pantry through its west entrance, she spotted Kennedy greeting well-wishers a few feet ahead. Moments later, as she watched the back of his head, the first shots rang out.

Initially mistaking the popping sounds for camera flashbulbs, she turned slightly leftward and caught her first glimpse of the 5-foot-5 Sirhan propped up on a steam table ahead and to her left. Her view was partially obstructed, and she could not see his weapon. But as soon as she noticed Sirhan, she heard additional shots from somewhere past her right side, near Kennedy — gunfire she described as much more rapid than the initial bursts.

Van Praag’s audio analysis corroborated this account, finding that some of the 13 recorded shots were fired at intervals too close together to have all originated from Sirhan’s revolver alone. Defense experts ruled out echoes and ricochets as explanations for the double shots detected on the recording.

Chaos and Horror in the Kitchen Pantry

Rhodes-Hughes described hearing gunshots from her right side even as Sirhan was being restrained several feet in front of her. People were collapsing around her. She witnessed a man sliding down a wall and then saw Senator Kennedy lying on the floor, bleeding from his wounds. Overwhelmed by shock, she lost consciousness.

When she came to, her dress was wet, and she had lost a belt and one shoe — evidence she had been trampled, though she was otherwise uninjured. Looking across the room, she saw Kennedy on the floor with his wife Ethel kneeling beside him. The sight sent her screaming from the pantry.

She recalled crying out as she fled that they had killed him. She later explained her instinctive use of the plural pronoun: she knew more than one shooter had been involved.

Kennedy was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles roughly 25 hours after the shooting.

Decades of Suppressed Testimony

Despite the FBI’s own documentation placing Rhodes-Hughes inside the pantry during the assassination, she was never called to testify at Sirhan’s 1969 trial or any subsequent inquiry. She told interviewers that she explicitly informed the FBI agents of her willingness to appear as a witness anywhere, at any time, to testify about the additional shots — but the agents never recorded that offer.

For months following the June 5, 1968 assassination, she and other Ambassador Hotel witnesses avoided media interviews to prevent interference with trial preparations. It was not until the 1990s that she received an invitation to provide testimony — not from any prosecutor or law enforcement body, but from Philip H. Melanson, a chancellor professor of policy studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

At Melanson’s request, Rhodes-Hughes reviewed her 1968 FBI interview summary for the first time and identified more than a dozen inaccuracies. She provided a corrected statement that Melanson published in “Shadow Play,” a book he co-authored with William Klaber in 1997. Melanson died before Rhodes-Hughes could formally testify, and another opportunity was lost.

Why the Case Still Matters

Sirhan’s current defense team pursued an argument his original lawyers never made: that Sirhan did not actually shoot Kennedy. The original defense had conceded from the outset that their client was the sole gunman and presented only a diminished capacity case, leaving evidentiary conflicts and second-gun questions entirely unexamined.

Rhodes-Hughes herself opposed Sirhan’s release, maintaining that he was undeniably present and firing a weapon. However, she insisted the full truth of Kennedy’s murder had been suppressed for decades and expressed hope that the alleged second shooter would eventually be identified and held accountable.

Defense attorney Pepper framed the stakes in broad terms, arguing that nothing less than the credibility and integrity of the American criminal justice system hung in the balance.

This article is based on reporting originally published by CNN. All factual claims are attributed to the sources cited.