LITTLE ROCK (CN) — An Arkansas woman sued the CIA and FBI this week for information on what she calls "a massive cover-up by federal, state and county officials" in the death of her son and another boy, whose bodies were left on a rural railroad track 29 years ago.
Linda Ives filed a lengthy Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Tuesday against 11 federal and state agencies, seeking "full and unredacted reports" on the deaths of her son, Larry Ives, and his friend, Don Henry.
Their bodies were found on Aug. 23, 1987, on a railroad track in rural Saline County, Ark.
Their unsolved deaths have been the subject of wild conspiracy theories and several books, movies and television specials.
The 1999 book, "The Boys on the Tracks," suggested the boys may have been killed by drug dealers or that police officer beat them up, dumped their bodies and orchestrated a cover-up. Other reports mention a mysterious man in military fatigues.
"There are lots of accounts of the cause of death of Kevin Ives from lots of books and other sources, but the accounts support several inconsistent theories of who did what, which will be difficult to reconcile without the investigative reports from the defendants," Ives says in the federal lawsuit.
The medical examiner originally classified the deaths as accidental: that the boys were run over by a train after they smoked marijuana and passed out.
A second round of autopsies in 1988 debunked that claim and concluded that the deaths were homicides.
Ives says she has little else to go on and has received inadequate responses from state and federal authorities "by virtue of no response or highly redacted responses."
"Plaintiff has been trying for the last 29 years to learn how her son was killed, why and by whom and has been met with stonewalling at every turn," she says.
"Plaintiff believes the only reason she has not received adequate responses is that an adequate response would show crimes by government officials and would expose them and government agencies to suits for damages. Plaintiff will prove that there has been a massive cover-up by federal, state and county officials. ...
"There is no legal excuse for non-response or a redacted response as there is no ongoing investigation as no one is being investigated or arrested. It is not an undisclosed investigation as it has been the subject of several books, movies and television specials. Plaintiff is entitled to know who killed her son, why her son was killed and who covered it up."
In addition to the CIA and FBI, defendants include the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Arkansas State Police, the Saline County Sheriff's Office and the Bryant (Ark.) Police Department.
She asks the court to order the agencies to provide "completely unredacted documents" and information on "any agencies who are directly or indirectly responsible for the death of Larry Kevin Ives or have covered up who was responsible for the death of Larry Kevin Ives."
She is represented by R. David Lewis in Little Rock.
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