Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Early Morning of November 23

At about 2:30 a.m., Ruby entered his automobile and departed KLIF, heading for the Dallas Times-Herald Building. En route, he stopped for about an hour to speak with Kay Helen Coleman and Harry Olsen at a parking garage at the corner of Jackson and Field Streets, where the couple were crying and extremely upset about the assassination. Ruby later explained he had not mentioned this meeting in his first two FBI interviews because he did not want to involve Olsen, who was reportedly having a secret relationship with Coleman. The Olsens, who later married about six weeks after the assassination, denied the specific remarks attributed to them but confirmed their lengthy conversation with Ruby and his expressed sympathy for Mrs. Kennedy and her children.

Encounter with Olsen and Coleman

At the parking garage at Jackson and Field Streets, Ruby spoke for approximately one hour with police officer Harry Olsen and dancer Kay Helen Coleman, who were emotionally distraught over the assassination. According to Ruby, Olsen remarked that “they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch by inch into ribbons,” and Coleman said “in England they would drag him through the streets and would have hung him.” Ruby did not mention this encounter in his first two FBI interviews, explaining he did not want to expose Olsen’s secret relationship with Coleman. The Olsens acknowledged the conversation and their upset state but disputed the specific remarks, claiming instead that Ruby had cursed Oswald and expressed sympathy for the Kennedy family.