Jay Richardson spends a quiet moment alone with the body of his father, J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper A pop star exhumed almost 50 years after tragic death

They didn’t bury the Big Bopper, his son says

By RON FRANSCELL Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on ̶̶̶The Enterprise 3/11/2007 “the day the music died,” Feb. 3, 1959. It was rock ‘n’ roll’s first great tragedy, How do you say goodbye if you and the tremor of that crash in a frozen never got to say hello? field was felt around the world. By the Jay Richardson was born almost time little Jay was born, the Bopper three months after his father, J.P. was settling comfortably into the Richardson ̶ better known as the Big muddy gumbo at Forest Lawn Bopper ̶ died in a violent Iowa plane Cemetery. The odds Jay would ever get crash that also killed 1950s rock stars to meet his father were, oh, next to dreaming most nights about the father never. he never knew. But don’t bet against history. Now, with the help of renowned Or science. forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass ̶ Or a son’s heart. who helped positively identify the Jay met his famously dead father Lindbergh baby’s long-dead remains last Tuesday, the day the music was and founded the Body Farm at the exhumed. The Big Bopper, back in the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, land of the living, for one day only. where he studies human decomposition Months ago, Forest Lawn ̶ Jay hoped to answer a few Cemetery had planned only to quietly unanswered questions about his father’s move the Bopper’s gravesite to a more death. visible location with a life-size statue And to introduce himself to his and historic marker. However, the father. disinterment offered Jay a historic chance to say his first hello, and for A return engagement forensic experts to examine the pop The Bopper’s first day above singer’s unautopsied remains 48 years ground in more than 48 years was a after his death. glorious one. He died on a black night That fateful morning, in the pocket in light snow, and his corpse quickly of the Bopper’s light-blue cotton pants, froze solid. But Tuesday morning was investigators found some dice, his all Texas spring under a mackerel sky, wedding ring, a guitar pick and $202.53 warm and bright. in cash. They also found the Bopper’s Jay, who’ll turn 48 next month, had briefcase, which contained a half- arrived before dawn and sat alone in his empty pint of whiskey, some aspirin, a truck near the grave. By the time a hairbrush and mirror, some ties, a cemetery backhoe took its first bite of guitar strap ̶ and his “lost songs,” earth from the Bopper’s grave, he had fragments of song lyrics he hadn’t yet set to music. But they didn’t find a definitive reason he died. The coroner thawed him out, looked over his busted-up corpse, signed his death certificate and sent him home to Beaumont for a grand funeral. When Jay became old enough to remember his dreams, he was already

Richardson's casket displayed at his wake in 1959.

gathered with other onlookers ̶ The enormous metal building fell including rock historian Bill Griggs and deathly silent as Landry unlocked the the Bopper’s one-time radio boss John lid. Although he still didn’t know what Neil ̶ at graveside. he’d see or how he’d respond, Jay Once the Bopper’s inch-thick steel stood as close as he could. vault was hoisted from its muddy hole, it was taken to a more private Meeting the Bopper workshop area, where it was cleaned Imagine if the first time you ever and unsealed. A handful of cemetery laid eyes on your father was when workers and their somber supervisors somebody lifted a casket lid to reveal a hovered around it until the quarter-ton human body that had been ferociously cap was finally lifted off, exposing to damaged and buried for almost 50 the mid-morning sun the Bopper’s years. Imagine being sickened by the casket, which the world last saw in a sight of a father you not only admired, photo taken at Broussard’s Funeral but resembled and re-created. Home in Beaumont in 1959, sitting The lid was lifted and Jay looked next to a funeral wreath sent by U.S. down upon a pale-blue face, a familiar Army Private Elvis Presley. ghost. The casket looked extraordinarily J.P. Richardson, who was only 28 intact after more than 48 years. Its few when he died, was a well-preserved rusty spots were superficial, but a limey corpse dressed in a black suit and a waterline a few inches short of its seal blue-and-gray striped tie. His mottled, caused some concern. bluish face was slightly moldy and Inside a nearby shop, away from misshapen ̶ perhaps by globs of any prying eyes, funeral director mortician’s putty needed to reconstruct Rodney Landry warned the nine invited his crushed skull ̶ but he was no onlookers that he was “inclined to gelatinous pile of disarticulated bones, believe there will be more than bones” as some had expected. His chest had but that what they were about to see caved inward. His ringless fingers had “will not be a pretty sight.” He pointed mummified into curled, dark brown to the doors that would be unlocked if talons. they must leave quickly. He wore socks, but no shoes. Under A small valve was first unscrewed his funeral-home suit, he was encased to let any trapped decomposition gases in a “unionall,” a mortician’s plastic escape. The lofty shop quickly filled garment that allows only the hands and with an overpowering death-stink that head to be exposed, keeping horribly lingered all day and seeped into damaged bodies in reasonable form for clothing, further worrying onlookers shipment and reducing leakage of body that the casket’s contents might have fluids. rotted beyond recognition. Beyond a No mementos had been stashed in simple, jaw-clenched glance. the coffin, and the occupant’s pockets were empty. All his personal effects quipped after regaining his composure. had been given to his widow. “The Bopper never would have worn Most remarkably, the Bopper’s that tie.” thick brown hair was still perfectly coifed in his familiar, 1950s crewcut. Cause of death But two people lay in the casket. Several people pitched in to lift the We all saw the earthly remains of still heavy but fragile body from the old Jiles Perry Richardson. The gentle and casket onto a gurney where it could be pudgy Beaumont kid nicknamed X-rayed by Bass and two radiologists. “Killer” by his high school football Was the Bopper killed by the coach. The chain-smoking, flat-topped impact of the crash? Did he survive and high-schooler who’d hung around the try to go for help, only to die 40 feet radio studio at KTRM until they gave from the wreckage, where his body was him a job. The sensitive male who found? Was he truly a victim in the wrote poetry. The country-boy wild conspiracy theories that there had ‘The Big Bopper’ visionary who imagined a jukebox that been gunplay on the plane? photographed four played both music and a short film of “We’re not doing this for history,” days before his death, the artist singing it, for which he coined Dr. Bass said privately while waiting by Timothy Kehr. the term “music videos.” The kid they for the X-rays to be developed. “We’re simply called “Jape.” doing this for a family. We have the But the Big Bopper was in there, ability to solve some of their personal too. The alter ego whom many listeners mysteries.” believed was not Jape Richardson, but There was a jive-talking black hipster. The pop- no bullet, the eyed clown who mugged for every X-rays showed, camera. The shooting star in a leopard- but few had skin jacket who’d sell a million records expected this but never see a dime from his greatest would turn into hit, “Chantilly Lace,” a two-minute a crime-scene novelty song that is both innocent and investigation suggestive, arguably the world’s anyway. And introduction to phone sex. The the Bopper flamboyant joker who carried a pair of didn’t survive dice in his pocket and leg-wrestled the impact even backstage with Ritchie Valens. The for a moment, Bass determined. He unlucky schlub who traded his sleeping suffered at least three death-dealing bag for a plane ride ... and a casket. injuries that would have killed him The Bopper’s ghost loitered there before he took another breath: A for everyone, except Jay. crushed skull, a broken neck and a “They didn’t bury the Big Bopper. grotesquely mashed rib cage. His other They buried J.P. Richardson,” son Jay injuries were equally grievous, including a crumbled pelvis, a broken “I must tell you that Tuesday was spine, a broken foot and ankle, and two one of the grandest days of my life. I compound fractures in each leg. saw my father! I was finally able to get The Bopper came undone. Almost peace for myself and hopefully in the no major bone in his body was process my father will be able to rest unbroken. He died so quickly he might more peacefully.” not even have had time to imagine it. Before the Bopper was reburied in “It answers the question that they his sleek new F63 Sapphire Blue Model all died instantly,” historian Bill Griggs casket donated by the Batesville Casket said later. “That’s the good news in this Co. ̶ retailing for about $2,600 ̶ Jay tragedy.” and his two sons took a lock of his dad’s flattop, as if carrying his living The next life DNA wasn’t enough. Jay has considered crushing the And just before he shoveled the empty 16-gauge steel casket beyond first spadeful of fresh earth into his recognition or melting it down to avoid father’s new grave Tuesday afternoon - seeing pieces of his father’s coffin beside his mother’s new grave, where being traded like Elvis relics on eBay. they’ll be easier to find in the future - Then he wondered if the Rock and Roll for the first time that day Jay was Hall of Fame might be a safe, unable to hold back the tears. respectful home for such a macabre but “I’ve been talking to Dad all day,” significant artifact of rock ‘n’ roll’s he said. “And after 48 years, he can still first great tragedy. amaze me.” He can’t decide, so for now, the In the outside world, a few people empty casket is stored in a secret place, grumbled that the autopsy was an a cast-off too gruesome to be a unnecessary intrusion, even for a son. cocktail-conversation piece, too But it was, after all, the son’s choice. historically intimate to become a “The Big Bopper belonged to the hubcap. world,” said Randy Steele, a close When he died, the Bopper had only family friend. “But Jiles Perry $8 in a savings account and his most Richardson belonged to Jay.” valuable assets were a $400 Dodge And Jay finally got to say his hello. sedan and a $100 guitar. He hadn’t yet received a penny of his “Chantilly And goodbye. Lace” royalties, nor the gold record that was en route. His widow paid $2,648 for his funeral. Today, his royalties earn an estimated $100,000 a year for Jay. “I didn’t have a dream about him last night,” Jay said the next day.