JLM: What Do We Know About Him? - #3

Meena's Mom said:

Not being facetious here, but lots of people have seen him, known him and thought he was trustworthy. I'm recalling the news article about the young ladies getting a ride in his cab. I think also some posters here have said that he looks just like a regular guy, and that's why this case is so creepy.

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I know, Menna's Mom. It must just be me ~ and certainly not a generational blunder, either because I am wary of those. I, obviously don't know him, haven't seen him other than in what has been presented here. He does not look like a "regular guy" to me.
But you are right, I can see that he presents himself as friendly, even helpful.
My strange eyes see only evil, wrapped in too many layers of kindness.
I see a picture of him and want to slap his pouty face.

Do we know the significance of Wertland Square?-- it's on a map on another thread, marked. And argh, I can't seem to pull it over as a link...

MJPeony said:

Do we know the significance of Wertland Square?-- it's on a map on another thread, marked. And argh, I can't seem to pull it over as a link...

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Why do you think it's significant?

Meena's Mom said:

Not being facetious here, but lots of people have seen him, known him and thought he was trustworthy. I'm recalling the news article about the young ladies getting a ride in his cab. I think also some posters here have said that he looks just like a regular guy, and that's why this case is so creepy.

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Yes, that's what they said about the Boston Strangler, too!

Soulmagent said:

164 hessian hills

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creepy that when i was first married, i lived in that apartment

ksj3 said:

He is seemingly "missing," though for at least the year 2004 (or maybe he just didn't have a car or a job that anyone is yet aware of). And, from pictures, we know he's traveled out of state at least once. Beach Week for his senior year of high school and/or college wouldn't be an expensive trip, either. Maybe even a quick trip to NY/NJ for a weekend with some buddies.

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i think that he did probably travel
he likely had benefactors who helped him travel - at least when he was younger and in college and shortly thereafter

ILOKAL said:

Actually, it clearly appears as though the area where the remains were found is closest to either driveway on the property than any other access would allow. It has also been said that there is no view of that property from any other of the "nearby" houses so he would feel pretty comfortable, it seems. We also don't know where the assault took place. Inside one of the houses? Perhaps, but the owner just lives a few blocks down (on Plank Rd) and would have, presumably, checked the property during the 35 days Hannah was missing, as owners often do. It makes more sense that the assault took place elsewhere. He might have assaulted her in the car, behind the house on OLR. Maybe she rejected his advances and he killed her on the spot, dragged her out of the car and left her in the dry creek bed. We really don't know if a sexual assault actually took place and we may never know.

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I agree we don't KNOW officially much of anything. But I do believe JLM's main focus is rape, given what we know in his history...I believe rape was the motive for abduction...so with reasonable speculation we can assume she was in fact assaulted. I do not believe murder was his first thought. Though at this point he had to be aware that if he raped her, it would end that way. I also do not think he drove out that far from downtown if he felt like she was just willing to give him what he wanted. I think when she left with him, he knew he was going to take her, new about where, and knew exactly what he was going to do to her. I also do not think he is the type of sexual predator that cares if his victims are active at the time he rapes them.

Something also makes me feel that he did not attack either Morgan or HG in his car.

Here is another thing that we know about him: His high school wrestling coach, in an interview of which I can't put my hands on the link, stated that he was so aggressive with opponents on the mat that, once JM had pinned his opponent, he (the coach) often had to go onto the mat to stop JM from harming the opponent. This, in my opinion, shows that he had anger/hostile tendencies at an early age and not just against women.

Paulap said:

i think that he did probably travel
he likely had benefactors who helped him travel - at least when he was younger and in college and shortly thereafter

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The timeframe for that travel would have been approximately from late Oct. 2003 to Jan. 2007.

Is there any evidence out there which supports an occupation he might have had or other schooling he might have had after *advertiser censored* between the above dates.

I agree, it is creepy you lived in the same complex as LJ earlier in your life.

FindHG said:

Wow. Thank you for sharing this. I hope more people like your ex and his friends feel compelled to search their memories and let LE know, especially. The sooner the better. Glad your ex called twice. Hope you all are doing well and things get better as things move forward. Did he recall his face, not the poker one, physically? Anything out of the ordinary?

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Nope, he said JM seemed completely normal. Nothing was strange about his demeanor at all. He remembered him because of his long, thick dreads. He said at first when Hannah went missing and JM was named as a person of interest, he didn't immediately make the correlation because he was introduced to JM as "LJ" and he said no one called him Jesse. But once he saw the picture, he immediately called police.

mika_cat said:

Nope, he said JM seemed completely normal. Nothing was strange about his demeanor at all. He remembered him because of his long, thick dreads. He said at first when Hannah went missing and JM was named as a person of interest, he didn't immediately make the correlation because he was introduced to JM as "LJ" and he said no one called him Jesse. But once he saw the picture, he immediately called police.

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I totally understand this. I havent lived in cville since the early summer of 2010. When I heard the name it meant nothing...then I saw his face and it was like this familiar nagging feeling but then when I heard LJ, I was like, holy cr-p I remember him! Creepy!

mika_cat said:

Nope, he said JM seemed completely normal. Nothing was strange about his demeanor at all. He remembered him because of his long, thick dreads. He said at first when Hannah went missing and JM was named as a person of interest, he didn't immediately make the correlation because he was introduced to JM as "LJ" and he said no one called him Jesse. But once he saw the picture, he immediately called police.

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I'm having a hard time picturing JLM sitting down at a poker table playing poker with the guys. I just can't picture it from what we "know" of him.

ILOKAL said:

I'm having a hard time picturing JLM sitting down at a poker table playing poker with the guys. I just can't picture it from what we "know" of him.

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Yes but for years and years what he has been "known" as is, a local kid, who is an assistant football coach at a private school, works at the hospital, hangs out at the bars with friends he's grown up with, maybe not great with women, a little socially awkward, maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed, giant teddy bear.....

So we have to keep in mind this is the lens through which people knew him....and that profile fits someone who would sit around and play pocker with the guys.

I personally do not see him as a highly orchestrated, sadistic, serial killer that some people do. I see him more of a kid with a history of family trouble, who is awkward, and not highly educated, and has major women issues. Possibly rejection....and needing power. I see him as someone who isn't a big planner but knows the area and sort of has gotten lucky. I think he's the type that acts on impulses and urges (ones which seem to spike in the fall). I think the vastness of landscape around Charlottesville has given him plenty of opportunity to carry out his deads, without needing a lot of planning. And I even think he might have a small part of him that is even remorseful after. I don't think he is so twisted, that his intelligence gives him charisma....because he's been reported by many to be awkward. I guess in other words I think its more of an uncontrolled impulse he hides from those who know him, rather then having the capability to fake a completely different personality.

ThinkHard said:

Yes but for years and years what he has been "known" as is, a local kid, who is an assistant football coach at a private school, works at the hospital, hangs out at the bars with friends he's grown up with, maybe not great with women, a little socially awkward, maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed, giant teddy bear.....

So we have to keep in mind this is the lens through which people knew him....and that profile fits someone who would sit around and play pocker with the guys.

I personally do not see him as a highly orchestrated, sadistic, serial killer that some people do. I see him more of a kid with a history of family trouble, who is awkward, and not highly educated, and has major women issues. Possibly rejection....and needing power. I see him as someone who isn't a big planner but knows the area and sort of has gotten lucky. I think he's the type that acts on impulses and urges (ones which seem to spike in the fall). I think the vastness of landscape around Charlottesville has given him plenty of opportunity to carry out his deads, without needing a lot of planning. And I even think he might have a small part of him that is even remorseful after. I don't think he is so twisted, that his intelligence gives him charisma....because he's been reported by many to be awkward. I guess in other words I think its more of an uncontrolled impulse he hides from those who know him, rather then having the capability to fake a completely different personality.

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BBM. It's just so hard to wrap my mind around that, to reconcile it with that "other" JM. Impossible.

ILOKAL said:

I'm having a hard time picturing JLM sitting down at a poker table playing poker with the guys. I just can't picture it from what we "know" of him.

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When my ex and I were married we used to host poker games 2x a month and also attended many home games.. poker attracts all kinds.

jbowman55 said:

BBM. It's just so hard to wrap my mind around that, to reconcile it with that "other" JM. Impossible.

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Think about how the people who where close to him feel!

He would have been their teammate in HS, known them since middle school, friends through college, etc etc. Maybe he could be a little odd at times, and suck as a wingman but he was still your boy. Then this comes out. And you start thinking if you should have seen the way he treats girls a little differently. Then you remember a genuine time he was there for you, or you had a heartfelt moment...and you question how could both version both be true!

It must be agonizing to lose someone through such a brutal way as Morgan and Hannah. But I can't imagine its easy go through what LJ's friends and family are going through either....they are very much losing someone as well, and they did nothing wrong. Their trust issues will forever be seriously tested!

I also can't imagine going through my friend being accused and likely guilty, of murder, especially when those very actions betrayed the character I thought I'd befriended. I would always wonder how I could have missed it! could I have done something different to help them before it got that far? Did I miss signs that could have saved a victims life?

My heart breaks for these people because they are grieving the ultimate betrayal of one human to another. It is easy to see the victims families as innocent and sympathize with them completely, but sadly the friends and family of the accused get lumped into guilty by association.

mika_cat said:

When my ex and I were married we used to host poker games 2x a month and also attended many home games.. poker attracts all kinds.

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Sure you did, so did we. I'm just trying to figure out whose invite list he would be on and how he would do at poker. It's been said he plays online poker - THAT I can see. But the regular "Friday" night poker game with the guys, I just can't picture it. JMO

jbowman55 said:

BBM. It's just so hard to wrap my mind around that, to reconcile it with that "other" JM. Impossible.

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ThinkHard left a few descriptors out, IMO: Drove wildly, amassed traffic violations, also drove wildly through neighborhoods without regard for anyone's safety, pushed himself on women in the presence of other locals, was kicked out of at least two universities, etc.

ExpectingUnicorns said:

I know, Menna's Mom. It must just be me ~ . .. . . I, obviously don't know him, haven't seen him other than in what has been presented here. He does not look like a "regular guy" to me. . . . My strange eyes see only evil, wrapped in too many layers of kindness..

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~ snipped from original. ~

No, it's not just you.

I've resisted saying this, because it sounds so silly/foolish/false, but here goes:

I'm not at all a believer in psychic vibrations or any of that nonsense -- but three times in my life I've had a hairs-standing-on-end automatic reaction to just the sight of someone.

The first was when I was in college and answered a newspaper ad for a photographer's assistant. The photographer viscerally freaked me out, so much, during the job interview --- his manner, his appearance, his weird sexual innuendo -- that I was afraid for my life. I played it calm, and left, running down the stairs. He started called me incessantly, at all hours of the day and night, until my parents got a lawyer to threaten him. A few years after that, he was on the cover of the NY Post, splashed all over the news as a serial rapist; he'd been murdered by one of the victims' boyfriends. So, my instincts were totally spot-on.

The third time? When I saw the videotape from the Downtown Mall, when JLM walked into the frame. I'm not at all generally a person who follows crimes or does sleuthing, but this . . . . .It was something visceral. It was way back at the start, before LE had identified the dreadlocks dude as a person of interest. . . . I saw him and felt that bad feeling and thought, "OH MY GOD, it's HIM! UGH, HORRORS, YUCK, it's HIM!"

(While on this topic, by the way: I strongly believe that even then, when they were claiming to just be drawing the public's attention to white guy, they actually had their eyes on JLM. Why start the video before JLM's entrance into the frame??? Anyone else notice that? That first video begins quite a few seconds before either WG or HG enter the frame, and I think LE did that intentionally.)

PS: No, I wasn't just having a racist reaction to a black man in dreads. (I'm from a multi-racial family.) It was something else, something visceral, about his movements and the way he presented himself.

Bonacker said:

~ snipped from original. ~

....
(While on this topic, by the way: I strongly believe that even then, when they were claiming to just be drawing the public's attention to white guy, they actually had their eyes on JLM. Why start the video before JLM's entrance into the frame??? Anyone else notice that? That first video begins quite a few seconds before either WG or HG enter the frame, and I think LE did that intentionally.)

PS: No, I wasn't just having a racist reaction to a black man in dreads. (I'm from a multi-racial family.) It was something else, something visceral, about his movements and the way he presented himself.

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Snipped for focus and BBM.

Absolutely. I noticed the timing of the released CCTV footage there at Sal's. It starts right before JM enters- not right before HG enters (or WG for that matter). I think it's weird. I do think LE did it on purpose but I'm not sure why. Other than to maybe give a personal signal to JM as he watches the news that they've got him on video.... not that they necessarily knew it was him who was responsible yet, but they suspected? Maybe that's when they started "covertly" tailing JM and maybe something about his movements, prompted by him seeing the video, made them able to get a search warrant for the car? Don't know... just speculating. I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but I really have not understood the WG thing from the beginning. And do think LE snipped those frames for a reason.