1/9: Los Angeles Women Identified MLK Assassin Alias Months Before Killing, FBI Files Show
Newly reviewed FBI files show that two Los Angeles women, Marie Martin and Rita Stein, positively identified a photo of Eric S. Galt, the alias used by James Earl Ray, as someone they personally knew in Los Angeles in late 1967--more than four months before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
According to an April 16, 1968, FBI report, cocktail waitress Marie Martin told agents yes, that’s definitely Eric Galt after being shown a photograph sourced not from law enforcement files but from the International School of Bartending at 2125 Sunset Boulevard.
Rita Stein, her roommate, also confirmed the photo, but later stated that a different photo of Ray from Mexico taken in November 1967 was not a good likeness. This inconsistency was noted but never followed up in public investigation records.
The FBI sourced Galt’s image from a bartending school graduation file, not official mugshots, raising questions about informal tracking. One memo reads that the photograph was located through civilian contact at the bartending school.
FBI agents described Galt as connected to multiple women, including Martin, with whom he traded a Zenith portable TV—described by agents as a potential indicator of deeper trust or shared resources.
The same Zenith TV was later flagged in connection with mail-order transactions Ray had made from Montreal earlier in 1967. The chain of custody of that item remains undocumented in released FBI exhibits.
Alias use extended to Stein herself, who registered her phone under the name RODE and listed her utility accounts under ROSAS. The FBI noted that she explained this as for privacy, but cross-referenced it with collect calls made from her line to New Orleans, including one on March 12, 1968, that she denied placing.
One agent’s note reads that the recipient was identified only by voice as possibly Negro, but Stein told investigators she had no African American contacts in Louisiana.
In a separate report, agents investigating Stein’s residence found names written on the inside of a tissue box cover: Ginger Day, Anita Katzwinkel, and Sue Harris. Stein denied knowing any of them.
None of these names were ever mentioned in the House Select Committee on Assassinations hearings or in mainstream public reporting.
Charles Stein, Rita’s ex-husband, provided further corroboration of Ray’s alias activity. He stated that Galt had been staying at their residence intermittently from November 1967 through March 1968 and often used Spanish phrases fluently.
He said Galt claimed he had lived in Mexico for six years and maintained contact with someone from Guadalajara.
Forensic reports reviewed as part of the same FBI file batch show no ballistic evidence was gathered from Ray’s Los Angeles contacts.
In another document, a Bell Telephone technician flagged unusual multipoint call routing from Stein’s address in March 1968. That observation was logged but not included in later affidavits or public exhibits.
The FBI’s memos repeatedly use soft phrasing to describe the identifications. Phrases like observed likeness and appeared familiar are used rather than definitive language.
One memo adds, Martin’s recognition of subject was immediate, but field agents chose not to include that in summary sections.
Ray, as Galt, also frequented social hubs like the National Dance Studio and was seen exchanging packages and personal items with Martin and another woman named Helena. Martin’s connection to Galt was described as close, but the FBI chose not to classify her as an accomplice.
The women interviewed were never charged with obstruction, conspiracy, or material witness status, despite placing Ray in a city with multiple aliases, resources, and covert contacts just months before the murder of Dr. King.