Blast Velocity Calculation for the Proposed Charge
What This Image Shows
A screenshot of the closing calculation. The stated conclusion: similar in sound to a gunshot, however due to the lack of rifling, the charge would lose speed incredibly fast, but would be plenty strong enough to cause the wound, however, as designed with a shape charge, not strong enough to cause an exit wound.
The arithmetic shown takes PETN detonation velocity as 8,400 metres per second and models a drop of 309 metres per second over one foot, giving 8,091. The intermediate steps published in the thread are: energy as mass times heat of detonation, 0.003 times 5.81 times ten to the sixth, giving 1.743 times ten to the fourth joules; a density-over-energy term of about 0.00838; a scaled distance of about 0.2945; that value raised to the power 2.5 giving about 0.047; a time of about 3.94 times ten to the minus fourth seconds; and a velocity of about 309 metres per second, subtracted from the initial figure.
The calculation is aimed at the strongest fact against the whole exploding-device family of theories: the published account describes a projectile recovered in the neck with no exit wound. Arguing that a shaped charge would also produce no exit wound is an attempt to make the theory consistent with that. Whether the model is sound is not assessed here, and none of its inputs come from case evidence. This is one of four screenshots of a thread by @cletus_jethro, a user identifying himself as a former U.S. Marine Corps explosive breacher, reshared on June 21, 2026 by @matt82704417. The thread proposes that the concealed charge was not in the lapel microphone at all but inside a crucifix pendant, on the reasoning that a charge must be anchored to be effective and that a heavy silver box chain around the neck would provide that anchor while a clip-on device on a shirt would not.
The claims are presented as the authors analysis and opinion, not as established fact. No explosive device of any kind has been recovered or identified in this case, the official finding is a rifle gunshot, and researchers who dispute the physical premise are documented separately. The full thread with its calculations and the objections to it is on The Exploding Pendant — Shaped-Charge Crucifix Theory. See also Mic vs Pendant, Demo of Shape Charge, and Microphone — The Exploding Mic Theory.
Where This Image Appears
This image is used on the following investigation page:
Related Areas
- Cluster: The Exploding Pendant — Shaped-Charge Crucifix Theory
- All photo evidence: Photos