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Historical allegation
MLK assassinationAtlas
Government & Politics · Assassinations & deaths of public figures
Competing accounts of whether Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 assassination was a closed single-actor case or involved a wider network, including disputed agency roles beyond surveillance history.
Open the caseTimeline
- 1968-04-04 · eventKing assassinated in Memphis
- 1968-04-04 · eventKing is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis
- 1968-06-08 · eventAuthorities arrest James Earl Ray in London
- 1969-03-10 · eventJames Earl Ray enters a guilty plea to King’s murder
- 1969-03-10 · eventJames Earl Ray enters guilty plea
- 1975 · investigationChurch Committee documents FBI COINTELPRO targeting of King
- 1975 · investigationChurch Committee documents FBI targeting of King
- 1976 · investigationHouse Select Committee on Assassinations begins reviewing the King case
- 1979 · mutationHSCA conspiracy-likelihood finding becomes a lasting rival frame to the lone-gunman account
- 1979 · investigationHSCA issues findings on the King assassination
- 1979 · document_releaseHSCA releases findings on the King assassination
- 1998 · popularizationGerald Posner publishes Killing the Dream arguing Ray acted as the assassin
- 1998 · eventJames Earl Ray dies while still seeking to reopen his case
- 1999 · popularizationCivil litigation verdict renews public conspiracy attention
- 1999 · amplificationCivil verdict renews mass-media attention to government-conspiracy claims
- 1999 · eventMemphis civil jury finds conspiracy liability in King family suit against Loyd Jowers