Upon confronting Marina Oswald, both women identified her as the woman whom they had seen in the store on the occasion in question, although Mrs. Hunter could not identify a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald and Mrs. Whitworth identified some pictures of Oswald but not others. Mrs. Hunter purported to identify Marina Oswald by her eyes, and did not observe the fact that Marina Oswald had a front tooth missing at the time she supposedly saw her.641 After a thorough inspection of the Furniture Mart, Marina Oswald testified that she had never been on the premises before.642

The circumstances surrounding the testimony of the two women are helpful in evaluating the weight to be given to their testimony, and the extent to which they lend support to Ryder's evidence. The women previously told newspaper reporters that the part for which the man was looking was a "plunger," which the Commission has been advised is a colloquial term used to describe a firing pin.643 This work was completely different from the work covered by Ryder's repair tag, and the firing pin of the assassination weapon does not appear to have been recently replaced.644 At the time of their depositions, neither woman was able to recall the type of work which the man wanted done. 645

Mrs. Whitworth related to the FBI that the man told her that the younger child with him was born on October 20, 1968, which was in fact Rachel Oswald's birthday.646 In her testimony before the Commission, however, Mrs. Whitworth could not state that the man had told her the child's birthdate was October 20, 1963, and in fact expressed uncertainty about the birthday of her own grandchild, which she had previously used as a guide to remembering the birthdate of the younger child in the shop.647 Mrs. Hunter thought that the man she and Mrs. Whitworth believed was Oswald drove the car to and from the store; 648 however, Lee Harvey Oswald apparently was not able to drive an automobile by himself and does not appear to have had access to a car.649

The two women claimed that Oswald was in the Furniture Mart on a weekday, and in midafternoon. However, Oswald had reported to work at the Texas School Book Depository on the dates referred to by the women and there is no evidence that he ]eft his job during business hours.650 In addition, Ruth Paine has stated that she always accompanied Marina Oswald whenever Marina left the house with her children and that they never went to the Furniture Mart, either with or without Lee Harvey Oswald, at any time during October or November of 1963.651 There is nothing to indicate that in November the Oswalds were interested in buying furniture.652

Finally, investigation has produced reason to question the credibility of Mrs. Hunter as a witness. Mrs. Hunter stated that one of the reasons she remembers the description of the car in which Oswald supposedly drove to the furniture store was that she was awaiting the arrival of a friend from Houston, who drove a similar automobile. 653 However, the friend in Houston has advised that in November 1963, she never visited or planned to visit Dallas, and that she