I’ve always thought that Dillinger died that July night at the Biograph Theatre in 1934, but now I have some reason to doubt it. I’m skeptical toward this, but it’s pretty suspicious, so here’s some of the “it wasn’t Dillinger” theory evidence:
"They were not dark glasses as Purvis reported, but regular prescription eyeglasses. Dillinger had perfect vision. If he wanted to get glasses for a disguise he could have purchased a pair of reading glasses or sunglasses in any drug store.
A photograph of the corpse at the morgue showed a scar on the abdomen that was either an appendectomy or a gall bladder removal. Dillinger had operations for neither. His girl friend Billie, when interviewed just before her death, said he had no scars in this region.
The corpse had brown eyes, Dillinger’s were blue gray. The autopsy showed the man had a rheumatic heart condition since childhood. Dillinger was never reported to have had rheumatic fever as a child. He had been an athlete most of his young adult life playing baseball in both Mooresville and in prison. He was noted as being athletic even when robbing banks by vaulting over the counters and into the teller’s cage. Wouldn’t a rheumatic heart condition have shown up in Dillinger’s navy physical?
Finally a close up picture of the corpse’s face shows a full set of upper front teeth. Dillinger was missing his right front incisor, which was apparent from photographs and newsreel footage taken at Crown Point."
Cited from Crimelibrary.com
So what’s the straight dope? Was Dillinger gunned down, or did they gun the wrong man?