By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 12, 2007
Chris Gugas Sr., 86, whose career as a leading polygraph expert uncovered whether the famous and the anonymous were telling the truth, died Oct. 20 of congestive heart failure at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. He had lived in Fairfax County since 1997.
Mr. Gugas founded three polygraph organizations, administered more than 40,000 tests around the world and testified in hundreds of court cases. He examined or investigated cases involving fugitive financier Robert Vesco, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes and the former owners of the house that became the focus of the film "The Amityville Horror."
He also conducted polygraph exams for the syndicated pilot program "The Truth With Jack Anderson," including two of James Earl Ray, who was convicted of killing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He had first confessed and then recanted, claiming his innocence.
Mr. Gugas was living in Los Angeles in 1977 when Anderson, then a Washington investigative columnist, asked him to examine Ray for his television show.
Ray's declaration of innocence was a lie, Mr. Gugas told the Omaha World-Herald in 1998 soon after Ray's death. Ray had failed an earlier test given by another expert, and his new attorney hoped the new exams would clear Ray. But during the 1977 sessions at Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex in Tennessee, Ray botched the two polygraph tests administrated by Mr. Gugas, the expert said.
"He was the most nervous guy I ever had," Mr. Gugas said. "He was shaking in the chair. His hands were very sweaty. Every time he shook his head, it was slimy wet. I had to give him something to eat and give him an hour's bed rest before I could polygraph him."
Mr. Gugas told the newspaper that there was no doubt in his mind that Ray killed King.
"When I asked Ray if he had killed Martin Luther King Jr., he said 'No,' " Mr. Gugas recalled in the newspaper interview. "His blood pressure went up, his heart rate went up and his breathing was shallow, all of which are indicative of lying."
During the polygraph exams, Mr. Gugas recalled, Ray asked him, "How am I doing?" He said he replied, "Not so good."
He recalled that Ray's response was, "You win some, you lose some." Mr. Gugas said he then remarked, "Well, you lost a big one."
Mr. Gugas, a native of Omaha, became interested in criminology and security in 1940 and soon began making polygraphs his area of expertise. In the 1950s, he demonstrated a rudimentary machine on one of Groucho Marx's television shows.
During World War II, Mr. Gugas fought in combat in the Pacific and rose to the rank of major.
While serving in the Marine Corp Reserves in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, Mr. Gugas played a role in a Marine Corps community service program that collected thousands of toys to be distributed to underprivileged children at Christmas. That program would later become the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
After the war, Mr. Gugas went to college at night and received a bachelor's degree from University of Southern California in 1949. He also received a master's degree in public administration from the University of California at Northridge in 1956.
He worked briefly in security for the Board of Education in Los Angeles before moving to Washington and joining the CIA in the early 1950s. He returned to Los Angeles as a criminology consultant in 1955 and was public safety director for the City of Omaha from 1962 to 1965.
He operated Professional Security Consultants in Los Angeles and conducted criminal polygraphs until 1990.
Mr. Gugas told Contemporary Authors that during his more than 30 years of polygraph work, polygraph professionals cleared more than 70 percent of those charged with a crime and obtained admissions from more than 60 percent of those who failed to pass their examination.
"I believe the polygraph has a permanent place in our criminal-justice system to protect the innocent and apprehend the guilty," he said.
Mindful of the criticism regarding techniques and accuracy of lie-detector tests, Mr. Gugas founded the National Board of Polygraph Examiners. He also was a founder and a president of the American Polygraph Association and founder of the California Academy of Polygraph Sciences.
He wrote two books, "The Silent Witness: A Polygraphist's Casebook" (1979) and, with Robert J. Ferguson, "Preemployment Polygraphy" (1984).
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Anne C. Gugas of Springfield; three children, Chris Gugas Jr. of Raleigh, N.C., Steven E. Gugas of Los Angeles and Carol A. Hawker of Warrenton; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.