Remains of "Big Bopper" Exhumed

The remains of legendary singer JP Richardson, "The Big Bopper," were exhumed Tuesday morning at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont.

The singer from Beaumont died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, in what became known as "The Day the Music Died."

The "Big Bopper's" son, Jay Richardson, said he hired a prominent forensic anthropologist to exhume his father's remains.

Richardson has told KFDM News he wanted to move the remains from one site to another at the cemetery, and figured he might as well seize the opportunity to settle rumors about the way his father died.

Richardson says there are rumors about a gun that might have been on the plane and whether his father could have survived the crash or whether he died later after trying to go for help.

A doctor from Tennessee is performing the autopsy.

Watch KFDM News for the latest on the exhumation.