Skyla Whitaker, 11, & Taylor Placker 13 - Found Murdered - #20

[STEADFAST]

I know I have missed a lot on this case and you have helped to update me on a few points I did miss. Thanks~ Your post also gives me a lot of food for thought.

Speaking of witnesses on the scene, I remember the grandmother describing the wounds, a sheet, and some man with her at the time supposedly while at the scene. Does anyone remember this?

Who are the other people at the scene? Can you name them because I don't have a clue about the two aforementioned gents and a possible female witness.

Why is the bootprint being disputed?

I think that info was from Nancy Grace's interview with Skyla's grandmother:

GRACE: What happened that day? When did you see your granddaughter Skyla?
FARROW: Actually, I didn't see her. I'd seen her body. Her body was covered. And I never got any closer than 50 feet to her. They wouldn't let me any closer.
So I knew they were there. I knew where they were laying. The girls were five feet apart from each other. So I knew that whoever killed them, it had to be more than one person. There's no way they could have had time to put one gun up and grab another gun and shoot the other girl without her running at least 25 feet away.
So I knew that it had to be two people that killed them. But they wouldn`t let me close enough to her.


. . .

FARROW: Well, Sunday afternoon. My daughter was the second person to arrive on the scene. And the daddy of Taylor wouldn't let her near Skyla. And she called us at our home, and we flew over there to see about her because we knew something was drastically wrong. So it was Sunday afternoon, probably 5:20.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/12/nancy.grace/index.html?iref=newssearch

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I will try to find the other report. She described where the wounds were and how he lifted the sheet covering one of the girls. She talked about not being able to see the legs because they were covered or something, IIRC. She wasn't 50ft away from what she described anyway.

Thanks for finding that interview! We can compare notes if I find the other one.

 

[Trino]

One thing that has always bothered me about this case is when one of the parents said, "They've killed them" or words to that effect. It struck me at the moment that they knew who had done this. That still nags at me.

While I don't know the family's speech patterns, Southerners sometimes talk like that, using the word "they" in a generic sense. I guess I hear it this way rather than anyone knowing who "they" really was.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

It was on Greta and I was watching the interview with Claudia F. live. Here are the accounts from myself and another poster watching at the same time:

6-12-08
Wow. Skyla's grandmother just described the shots on her. One in the arm, one near the collarbone, some in her legs, and one under the chin which came out the top of her head. (This was on Greta just now which means we will have the transcript later.) She said she moved the cloth they had on her to see for herself when she arrived with the father (James) to the scene.

She also said that Skyla's mother was driving to the house when she saw the grandfather waving his arms to flag her down a quarter of a mile up the road...indicating she was coming from the South and was at their driveway.

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[Albert18]

What has nagged at me about the 911 call is how Vickie described what happened. Rather the fact she didn't.

Seems to me the action that causes the tragedy is what you have to deal with first. Then you move on to the consequences of what happened. So if somebody witnesses a shooting or a car accident, they call 911 and that is what they report. If you find a dead body in your yard, you call 911 and report a dead body. In this 911 call Vickie is more towards the latter and that doesn't make sense to me. Unless someone has processed the scene and is reporting the results to Vickie.

In fact when the 911 operator asks what happened that question doesn't even jar Vickie into telling her the girls were shot. The 911 call is obviously a very raw moment so how can the way the girls were killed be assumed.

 

[STEADFAST]

It was on Greta and I was watching the interview with Claudia F. live. Here are the accounts from myself and another poster watching at the same time:


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Apparently, there's not a transcript for the Greta show that featured Skylar's grandmother. There was quite a discussion on here concerning whether the grandmother was describing what she saw at the scene or what she saw at the funeral home -- it was still going on on thread #16!
Here's a post from evelyn24 summing it up, but at the link there are lots of posters chiming in about it and a bit of argument.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68642&page=10

I do not think Claudia specified that she saw the wounds and gauze at the funeral home on Greta.
As a matter of fact she didn't say the funeral home during her Greta interview. I know this because I've been following these threads since #1, and when Claudia talked about the "under the chin" shot and the gauze on Greta, everybody here started asking why gauze was on the wounds at the crime scene. I think we were confused because Greta was asking about the day of the shootings and the bodies being found, and that is when Claudia mentioned the wound and the gauze. It was unclear she was talking about viewing Skyla at the funeral home.
She probably meant she saw the body at the funeral home, but it was not specified on Greta that's what she meant.


Again...this is not really relevant to solving this case, it's just people here getting defensive over who is right and wrong.
I think we can now say for certain that Claudia in noway saw the bodies at the crime scene, but most likely saw Skyla's "under the chin" wound and the gauze at the funeral home, and that's what she was talking about on Greta.

I'm still looking for the transcript of that show. It's got to be somewhere!

 

[Ruflossn]

What has nagged at me about the 911 call is how Vickie described what happened. Rather the fact she didn't.

Seems to me the action that causes the tragedy is what you have to deal with first. Then you move on to the consequences of what happened. So if somebody witnesses a shooting or a car accident, they call 911 and that is what they report. If you find a dead body in your yard, you call 911 and report a dead body. In this 911 call Vickie is more towards the latter and that doesn't make sense to me. Unless someone has processed the scene and is reporting the results to Vickie.

In fact when the 911 operator asks what happened that question doesn't even jar Vickie into telling her the girls were shot. The 911 call is obviously a very raw moment so how can the way the girls were killed be assumed.

I had always assumed the following ~
PP discovered the bodies of the girls, He yelled to VP or another family member what he had discovered. He removed the cell phone from Taylor, and called 911. At the same time he was dialing, VP was dialing from a 2nd phone. Probably from the house. If for no other reason than the fact a young childs voice was heard on the 911 call and they were probably wanting to protect her/him and /or keep the child away from the crime scene.

Land line or cell phone who knows? VP is obviously distraught and I believe PP or someone else was reporting to her what they had discovered. She was speaking to the 911 operator as she was finding out more and more info. The reason, they may have used 2 phones was because cell service in that area is "sketchy". I have always had great cell service while in this road but, a friend standing next to me did not.

I have always thought the cell phone calls happend in the above mentioned manner. I will listen to the 911 call again and try to discern anything different. Great post Albert18.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Apparently, there's not a transcript for the Greta show that featured Skylar's grandmother. There was quite a discussion on here concerning whether the grandmother was describing what she saw at the scene or what she saw at the funeral home -- it was still going on on thread #16!
Here's a post from evelyn24 summing it up, but at the link there are lots of posters chiming in about it and a bit of argument.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68642&page=10



I'm still looking for the transcript of that show. It's got to be somewhere!

Unfortunately, Greta doesn't have transcripts. I tried to find it in her video archives without much luck. (They don't have a search that I could find! Her archives are not user friendly, imo.)

Why would there be gauze or anything else except a sheet at the funeral home after they did the autopsy? Doesn't make sense to me. Do they let family view the bodies before they are ready for viewing? I didn't know there was a choice.

Yes, there was a fight because FC's "source" claimed the grandmother was a liar. Said it didn't happen, but since everything has come up about the 20 minutes before calling 911 and people fleeing the scene before LE arrived...I would consider it to be pertinent information. Farrow's interview happened before any autopsy results were released and they back up the areas where she said the wounds were located, imo.

I do know her information could not have been seen from 50ft away.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I had always assumed the following ~
PP discovered the bodies of the girls, He yelled to VP or another family member what he had discovered. He removed the cell phone from Taylor, and called 911. At the same time he was dialing, VP was dialing from a 2nd phone. Probably from the house. If for no other reason than the fact a young childs voice was heard on the 911 call and they were probably wanting to protect her/him and /or keep the child away from the crime scene.

Land line or cell phone who knows? VP is obviously distraught and I believe PP or someone else was reporting to her what they had discovered. She was speaking to the 911 operator as she was finding out more and more info. The reason, they may have used 2 phones was because cell service in that area is "sketchy". I have always had great cell service while in this road but, a friend standing next to me did not.

I have always thought the cell phone calls happend in the above mentioned manner. I will listen to the 911 call again and try to discern anything different. Great post Albert18.

There was a longer call as I found mention of it in the earlier threads, but didn't find the link. It had VP screaming, "Run! Run!" to someone.

 

[STEADFAST]

Unfortunately, Greta doesn't have transcripts. I tried to find it in her video archives without much luck. (They don't have a search that I could find! Her archives are not user friendly, imo.)

Why would there be gauze or anything else except a sheet at the funeral home after they did the autopsy? Doesn't make sense to me. Do they let family view the bodies before they are ready for viewing? I didn't know there was a choice.

Yes, there was a fight because FC's "source" claimed the grandmother was a liar. Said it didn't happen, but since everything has come up about the 20 minutes before calling 911 and people fleeing the scene before LE arrived...I would consider it to be pertinent information.

It isn't clear to me how posters got the idea that that account would have come from the funeral home. That idea doesn't seem to have an origination point that can be pinned down.
I remember at the time, I thought maybe the grandma was misremembering what she saw, because of the trauma, since she had said before that she hadn't gotten close enough to see anything clearly. But that aspect of the scene hasn't ever been cleared up, as far as I know.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I argued the point with not much luck back then because people were wanting for some reason to discredit Farrow with her account. However, I still say the autopsy verified her story.

Now...if LE were trying to keep it quiet who was at the scene before they arrived and what took place in those 20 minutes prior to that call...I can see why they would want her account discredited, imo.

My theory was the gauze and blanket/sheet came from the house. Someone brought them in "save" mode instead of leaving the girls laying there uncovered and with bleeding wounds. This would also mean the scene was "tampered" with by the family, imo.

 

[little726]

Here is an interview between Nancy Grace and Claudia. I'm not sure if Greta did one with her.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/12/nancy.grace/index.html

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Her story was different on NG. That is where she said she was 50ft away. Yes, she was on Greta because I watched it with my own eyes. Other posters watched it, too. It is a shame that Greta doesn't have transcripts. She needs to get with the program!

I even made the comment that Nancy just didn't ask the RIGHT questions to garner all this additional information from her. LOL

 

[YellowDog]

I would be inclined to think the police put the gauze over the bodies as an act of human decency and possibly to keep flies and insects off of the bodies.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I have never seen where LE would disturb a body due to evidence being lost by applying gauze or anything else directly on the wounds of a body. Normally, they would cover the body with a sheet or a tarp before moving it in a body bag.

Also, if LE were already present at the scene...how could Farrow have gotten such a close examination of the body? It doesn't add up.

 

[STEADFAST]

Her story was different on NG. That is where she said she was 50ft away. Yes, she was on Greta because I watched it with my own eyes. Other posters watched it, too. It is a shame that Greta doesn't have transcripts. She needs to get with the program!

I even made the comment that Nancy just didn't ask the RIGHT questions to garner all this additional information from her. LOL

I saw the Greta show, too, and heard her say it. She seemed kind of hyper or something. But I think your theory that the families tampered with the crime scene is probably right. People from both families were there before the police and no telling what went on.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

So if the 911 call was delayed 20 minutes and the members of the family were with the bodies...who was VP screaming at to run and where was she directing them to run? (I have to find that longer version of the 911 call.)

 

[RPS]

There was a longer call as I found mention of it in the earlier threads, but didn't find the link. It had VP screaming, "Run! Run!" to someone.

I remember that - I thought she was saying "RUN RUN" also. But when more people heard it and compared notes, we heard something to the effect:

VP: WHAT? WHAT?
Child: He says they're dead.
VP: WHAT? WHAT?

//Then 911 comes in - the above does not show up in most sound clips//

 

[Ruflossn]

I remember that - I thought she was saying "RUN RUN" also. But when more people heard it and compared notes, we heard something to the effect:

VP: WHAT? WHAT?
Child: He says they're dead.
VP: WHAT? WHAT?

//Then 911 comes in - the above does not show up in most sound clips//

RPS is correct. When the 911 call was closely listened to it was not "run, run" it was "what, what" that was being said. I also remember the 911 that was the longer version. It has to be somewhere on the web. Maybe even somewhere on the WS forum. I remember it was discussed in detail.

 

[Mysterylover]

I remember that - I thought she was saying "RUN RUN" also. But when more people heard it and compared notes, we heard something to the effect:

VP: WHAT? WHAT?
Child: He says they're dead.
VP: WHAT? WHAT?

//Then 911 comes in - the above does not show up in most sound clips/////

RPS, I listened to the first 911 longer tape also and I agree V was saying RUN RUN! although everyone said it was WHAT WHAT!

While listening to the tape a question crossed my mind if V. was yelling and telling the child to RUN AWAY from the murder scene or RUN TOWARD the murder scene.

Later I read where the childs Mother had thanked Vickie for keeping Jennifer safe. I assumed Jennifer was the child heard in the 911 call.
I felt the 'thank you' was a clue to who did the shooting.
So my question to everyone here is "How would V. have known to keep Jennifer safe that day?