(I realize this post is terribly long, and I apologize in advance
but walking through this thought process seemed to warrant, to me anyway, a good deal of detail
so bear with it if you can, as I would appreciate all sorts of thoughts, opinions, and feedback from you all!)
Ive been going back and re-reading, re-visiting old posts, documents, media reports, etc. (I actually find it really helpful things were written, posted, etc., weeks ago, that over time, weve been able to clarify, modify, etc.). While doing so, of course, I ended up back at my old pal the search warrant.
I often think of Roosters account of that evening that Raven got home, tired to "save" Janet, ran to the Durango to get a cell phone, depositing blood on the side door, and on the Durango door, etc., eventually calling 911. While this information, via Rooster, is certainly not confirmable, Ive always thought that that information came from somewhere, perhaps Raven himself. Totally fabricating that story, for the purposes of posting on WS is certainly possible, but Ive always believed that someone actually told this to Rooster, or at least some parts of that story. Is this what Raven actually told LE happened, as far as the sequence of events? Who knows.
Keeping that in mind, I went back over the search warrant, AGAIN. Oddly enough, I noticed some new things -
(for reference, please see the pictures of the warrant pages as posted by GM on the Time Line and Case Info thread Ill refer to them here by those page #s.)
If you look carefully on the search warrant form (the actual pgs where property seized is listed), there is a blank called "Recovered/Found Location." On several pages of the warrant, the blank is filled in, obviously, as "2606 Ferrand Drive." However, on several of the pages, the information is different.
The page (page 14) where the items listed, item # 4-10, were the clothes Raven was wearing, the recovery location is listed as "W. Chapel Hill Street Police HQ." Also, on the two pages (page9, page 8) where items are listed (item #44-50, 51-54) as samples, etc., from the Durango, the recovery location is listed as "213 Broadway, Forensic Office."
To me this says, perhaps, that when Raven was asked to turn over his clothing, he was at DPD. The recovery officer is listed as A. Ashby, date of 4/27/05. So perhaps sometime that early morning, Raven was asked to come to the police dept for questioning, at which time he was asked for his clothing. This also says to me that LE did talk to Raven sometime that night/next morning, at DPD
and then brought him back again for additional questions on Thursday morning.
Further, as far as the Durango. If youll recall, the police asked for a 2nd search warrant on that Thursday, April 28, after apparently talking to Raven that morning, and making a determination that the vehicle needed to be searched again, possibly to ascertain its relationship, if any, to the crime/crime scene.
If you notice on the warrant (page 12), item #s 40-42, reference the following
40 Knife with case
41 Pawn ticket
42 Swabbings from vehicle (consists of 1 from left front door & 1 from the window)
Later on, items 44-50, 51-54, reference additional samples, etc., as well as the Gatorade bottle, being taken from the Durango. BUT, if you look closely at those two pages, the recovery location is 213 Broadway, with a date of 4/29/05.
This leads me to believe, that when LE first looked at the Durango on the night/morning of the murder, all they sampled were items 40-42. Then after talking to Raven, obtaining a "supplemental" (note that designation at the very top of those two pages 8, 9) to the original search warrant, they came back and took the Durango to the forensics office, at 213 Broadway, for additional "scientific testing" of some sort. What does this say? Something that Raven told them when he was questioned that Thursday morning made them decide to look at the Durango again not just look, but to actually take the vehicle in for testing. (As was reported in the media at the time.)
Now, the warrant. Notice that when LE took the vehicle into the forensics office, the testing was much more thorough. The night of the murder the ONLY testing on the vehicle itself involved swabbings from the exterior of the left front door and window. And, they took the knife and pawn ticket from the vehicle. Yet, based on SOMETHING Raven said to them obviously, when looking at the Durango a 2nd time, there were samples taken from the INTERIOR of the vehicle for the first time (inside the door, interior door handle, driver floorboard, driver seat), as well as soil samples, and, interestingly enough that Gatorade bottle.
So, Raven told them SOMETHING that made them think, hmmm, we need to get samples, check for trace, etc., from INSIDE the Durango. (They obviously looked inside the Durango the first time, as they took the knife and pawn ticket.) AND, something he said made them also think they needed that Gatorade bottle, which they did NOT take during the first search.
So, lets think about Roosters statement about that night.
Rooster explained the blood on the interiors of the side doors by saying that Raven had been up with Janet, must have gotten her blood on him while trying to "save" her, went to call 911, realizes the phone is in the Durango, runs out the side door depositing blood on the interior of the door frame, and the interior of the storm door. OK. Then Rooster says that Raven got to the Durango, realized it was locked. Presumably at this point touching the exterior of the Durango door, and, possibly the window (both things as evidenced by the exterior swabbings taken during the initial search of the Durango). Now then, according to Roosters story, the blood on the house interior doors is accounted for, and, if in fact the swabbings from the exterior Durango doors is blood, then that is now accounted for as well. Janets blood, on Raven, innocently deposited in both of those locations as Raven frantically is trying to get to a phone to call 911.
We did talk at length weeks ago, that if this is true, why is there no blood on the EXTERIORS of the side door, from when Raven would have re-entered the house to finally find the cellphone to call 911. In re-thinking this, I suppose one could argue that when he ran out of the house, both doors were left open, the side door as well as the side storm door, thus when running back in, he did not have to touch the exteriors of the doors or the exterior door handles/knobs.
Ok, so lets suppose this story, or some close variation is what Raven actually did tell LE that night, or, even when being questioned on Thursday morning, April 28th. So hes now been able to "explain" how blood is on the interiors of the side doors, as well as any possible blood on the exterior of the Durango drivers door. BUT, something he said that morning made LE say they wanted another look at the Durango. AND, when they did look again, the focus was on soil samples from the undercarriage, AND, the INTERIOR. And, the gatorade bottle. Yet, if the series of events is true, as described by Rooster, Raven never even entered the Durango. He got to the door, realized it was locked, then ran back in the house, finding the cellphone inside after all.
So why then upon re-inspecting the Durango, did LE take all sorts of samples, controls, and trace from the INTERIOR, having NOT done that the night of the murder? Seems to me they were attempting to verify Ravens story somehow - soil samples to possibly verify his whereabouts that evening (soccer field, wherever) I suppose. But what about all those samples, etc.? Were they making sure there was no evidentiary material IN the Durango, thus seeing if Ravens story checked out? Remember, if what Rooster says is true, Raven never went back inside the Durango, so, the only pertinent evidence inside would have to do with something PRIOR to Raven coming home from soccer. Samples and controls were taken from the drivers seat, drivers door handle and interior driver door at lock, as well as trace from drivers floorboard and drivers seat. What sort of samples/control could LE possibly be wanting from that inside of that car, that would relate to the soccer game alibi? I suppose there are things. And why all of the sudden did LE think the Gatorade bottle was something of interest to them?
My thought is something about the series of events, as described by Raven, either didnt make sense to LE, or, they wanted to check it out and see if he was telling the truth. For example:
-Did Raven say something on Thursday morning about the Gatorade bottle? How it got in the vehicle, when it got in the vehicle, was it his, was it Janets, what????
-Or, if Raven said he never opened the door of the Durango when he ran out to look for the cellphone, at the point when he deposited Janets blood on the EXTERIOR of the door, then in theory, there should be NONE of Janets blood in the INTERIOR of the vehicle. Thus, could LE have been checking the INTERIOR to see if there WAS any blood, or not?
-Or, was LE checking for trace inside the Durango, that would have come from inside the house AFTER the murder, or, in some way relating to the murder?
Its interesting that on the night of the murder, nothing was apparently said that made LE want to investigate the Durango anymore then they did at the time. Maybe they should have, I dont know protocol for that sort of thing. They certainly did SOME testing, but obviously not ALL.
Raven told them something. Something that made them go back for the Durango.
I keep coming back to blood. Blood on the interior doors. Blood, possibly, on the exterior drivers door of the Durango. All possibly explained away by Raven.
On the flip side of all this
Lets assume Raven did kill Janet.
So is all of this blood everywhere, at least on the interior doors and possibly on the exterior door of the Durango, just some huge set-up? Literally placed there, intentionally, to come up with this story? Several scenarios come to mind
1) Raven murders Janet, intentionally places blood in the various places, as he comes up with his alibi on the run, literally. Then goes to play soccer. Comes home, uses this dramatic story to explain what has happened, etc. This one doesnt work for me, at least for one reason if he got blood on the drivers door of the Durango, how could he be sure no one at the soccer game wouldnt notice it, etc.? Possible I suppose, but risky too. Also, in this scenario, Raven could easily have deposited blood, trace, something inside the Durango. Plus, theres also the issue of the blood itself. Im no crime scene person by any means, but in this age of CSI, you often hear about the age of blood, blood coagulation, etc. So if the blood was deposited PRIOR to playing soccer, it would seem easily tested in that regard.
2) Raven murders Janet. Leaves Kaiden in his crib, goes to play soccer. Either hes thought all of this out in advance, or, perhaps while playing soccer he comes up with this story. So he returns home, and literally does all of those things comes in the house, kisses Kaiden, "finds" Janet, perhaps tries to "save" her, now having her blood on him, runs downstairs looking for the cellphone, and then either intentionally places the blood on the door and Durango, as part of his story, or perhaps even unintentionally, as can then be explained by his version of events, etc. Either way, the presence of the blood is now easily explained to LE when they arrive, or later.
3) Or, lastly, Raven goes to play soccer, comes home later, murders Janet, THEN acts out the whole scenario as described.
Me, Ive always believed that if Raven is the perp, he murdered Janet, THEN played soccer to create an alibi, etc. And if thats the case, my bet is on theory #2, as creepy and vile as it may seem. But, thats JMO.
The more I think about all of this, the more Im convinced that everything is somehow linked to that 2nd search of the Durango somehow. Could it be as simple as catching Raven in a lie? Is it something to do with scientific evidence recovered from the Durango? Who knows. But nothing else makes sense to me anymore. Weve talked forever about lab results, etc. But what lab results would actually be pertinent? Many would be easily explainable I would think. Some not. A lot hinges on one thing whether or not Raven went inside that Durango after finding Janets body. And what HE told LE in that regard. All we "know" is what Rooster told us. True or not, who knows. And I know full well that Im basing a LOT of my thinking here on that whole story from Rooster. But I just have a feeling, that somewhere in Roosters story, whether part or all, is something that was told to Rooster, or, heard by Rooster, as far as Ravens version of the sequence of events for that evening. That story just included too much detail and explanation to have just been fabricated for the purposes of a WS post. But, then again, Ive been naïve before too, so who knows.
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Note 1: One other point regarding possible evidence INSIDE the Durango. Rooster did say (Evidence thread, post # 368) that the Durango was locked, and Raven went "back inside to get Janets phone or keys to the Durango." Now, if Raven got keys to the Durango, then went back out to the Durango AGAIN, he obviously could have deposited blood or trace, or any number of things INSIDE the Durango at that point. That said, if he did do this, then did he tell LE that story, that night, or later? (Personally, I just dont see that IF he ran to the Durango, found it locked, that he would go back inside, find keys, then go back outside again. If anything, I would guess that in that scenario, he could have come back inside and realized that his phone WAS in the house, or, that Janets phone was inside. Plus, surely he if had blood on him at this point, somewhere along two separate trips to the Durango, we could have deposited blood somewhere else? Just my thoughts of course
Note 2: HQ for DPD is on W. Chapel Hill Street. The offices for the crime scene unit/forensics office, is off site, at 213 Broadway Street.
