James Robert Leavelle (August 23, 1920 – August 29, 2019) was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24, 1963, was escorting John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Leavelle prominently appeared in several famous photographs—including one that won a Pulitzer Prize—taken of Oswald just before and as Ruby pulled the trigger.
Leavelle was born and raised in Red River County, Texas. In 1937, Leavelle joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. Following graduation from high school, Leavelle joined the United States Navy in 1939 (during World War II) and served as a sailor on board the USS Whitney; he was on board the ship during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In April 1942, the Whitney left Pearl Harbor and headed for the South Pacific Ocean to support operations there. After being knocked down and seriously injured by a rogue wave, he was evacuated to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital near Oakland, California. In the hospital, he met nurse Taimi Sanelma Trast, his wife-to-be. Around the same time, Leavelle left on a medical discharge to take a civilian supply job with the Army Air Force in Southern California.
After World War II ended, Leavelle worked as an auditor for the Veterans Administration until 1950. Leavelle began a career as a homicide detective in the Dallas Police Department in April 1950 and retired in April 1975.

Return to James Leavelle Autograph Profile