AZ AZ - Brandon Rumbaugh 20 & Lisa Gurrieri 19, fatally shot in pick-up truck, Bumble Bee, 17 Oct 2003

[dotr]

Hey everyone,

I'm Frank, I'm a medically retired mechanic from Philadelphia who mostly holds down a chair these days. I saw this case profiled on TV awhile back. I visited the sheriff's website and grabbed copies of the pictures in evidence because something about the mysterious one bothered me. I just found it in a folder on my computer and the memory finally tripped! I can tell you, to the best of my ability, what I see pictured in this image.

The peeping Tom is looking through the window over the kitchen sink of a ca. late 1960's-early 1970's single wide, one bed/one bath trailer that has had a replacement window installed in the dining area. The oddness happening on the ceiling is due to the factory contact paper over Masonite board shrinking and pulling away because it got wet. I've attached a picture grabbed from Zillow of a similar trailer's kitchen (weirdly enough in Apache Junction in a MHP - getting tough to find these old sardine cans anymore, at least in original condition). The window he is peeping through is to the left of the fridge in the realtor's pic. The perp would have been around the back of the trailer when this picture was snapped.

The lamp is a cheap Home Depot-style glass pendant over the dining table, exactly where the junction box was placed in the ceiling by the factory. They came in several outer primary colors, white underneath, and cost around $30 at the time if not less.

A pot is hanging to the right of the window with ivy hanging down over the back of what looks to be a 1950's-60's vintage Cosco brand step stool, likely there to help with watering the plant. What appears to be a black wire tea tray is sitting on the top step. This tray has a stitch-type decoration around the sides, much like the zig-zag stripe on the front of Charlie Brown's shirt in Peanuts. Picture of a comparable step stool is attached.

The bright comma near the "shoulder" in the reflection of the perp is light reflecting off the top of a kitchen sink spigot. The shape and placement make sense.

There is something on the table, like a salt shaker, that is causing the bright spot among the ivy leaves.

It appears to me that there is a plate stand and maybe a figurine on the window sill. The plate stand (easel type) rests against the right side of the window frame, folded closed. To the best of my worsening eyesight, the figurine appears to be a seated boy with his head down. It looks to me like he is dressed like a baseball player (I think his hair is peeking out from under a ball cap and his pants look baggy and wrinkled). I've attached a picture of a similar figurine, though this also has a kid standing. It may be half of a broken figurine, which would explain its orientation on the sill - the broken side is towards the window. I believe it looks a lot like a figurine made in 1989 by Paul Sebastian Porcelain titled "Home Run Boys." It is 9" tall including the standing boy. If it's not this one, I think it'll have a similar shape.

It looks to me like the trailer was maybe abandoned or empty for awhile, or was a fixer-upper, then fitted with the lamp and new window with integral blinds to get it ready for habitation. However, the owner did not replace the original ceiling panels, opting instead to paint the mess (possibly causing the contact paper to wrinkle). There is also a good chance that the roof leaked at some point, at least in the kitchen/dining area. The support trim between the panels was painted as well. The window was likely made for a full depth stud wall, not the thin walls of a trailer, and would have needed to be framed in by someone who knew what they were doing, judging by the depth of the window frame.

The window through which the perp is peering has an old aluminum screen in it, not a gauzy curtain. The streaks are the oxidation that occurs over time where rainwater runs over it from off the roof or were caused by the outside paint turning to chalk and washing down over it. If you zoom in very close, the weave can be seen. Maybe someone better than I with Photoshop can match the spacing and remove the screen from the picture?

I've been studying this creepy picture for awhile now, and I know this is what I'm seeing. Both my grandfather and several of my friends lived in period trailers very like this one and I've seen a similar view over the sink firsthand. I recognize that type of ceiling and step stool, one of those stools broke under me ages ago. I've attached a few pictures (from Zillow and Etsy) showing what I'm talking about.

Your mileage may vary, of course. I hope my memory flashes and thoughts jogs someone else's memory too. I hope this helps get this one solved.

Frank

Retired mechanic with too much time and not enough leg strength

Thank you for your intriguing and very plausible break down of the photo environment!

 

[dotr]

Nov 13, 2021
''Every passing year for Paula Gurrieri is tougher than the one before. It brings back memories from Oct.17, 2003, the day her daughter was killed.''

 

[Mechman]

Thank you for your intriguing and very plausible break down of the photo environment!

Thank you! This photo has been bugging me for awhile now. I may be totally off about the figurine (I collect sculptures, my mind just goes there), but I'm quite certain that the picture was taken through the kitchen window of an old single wide, possibly one that had a slap-dash "renovation" done to it. It probably still had the original paint on the outside at that time, and it almost definitely still had the original crank out window above the sink, judging by the condition of the screen. The picture of the trailer kitchen from Zillow has the original kitchen cabinets and orientation as well, which can help further identify a possible candidate.

I know a lot of these trailers are used as camps out in the woods too. My grandfather lived in a similar but older one. Many were the nights I spent staring at the wrinkled contact paper stained brown from water leaks on the ceiling. The Masonite panels were held up with tacks that had flower shaped cast washers and the trim molding along the edges. I've helped repair many of these trailers over the years, including demolishing my grandfather's after his passing.

I've attached a couple more pics from the listing for the similar trailer, showing the kitchen and dining area windows better.

Frank

 

[Mechman]

Should one find themselves in a similar trailer, one thing that may cinch it even after all this time is that the curtain over the dining area window hangs from the ceiling, like in a hospital, and likely runs along above the sliding glass doors next to that window, too. You can see the track mounted to the ceiling above the window. That is probably old, there may not be a curtain hanging from there anymore, but unless the place has since been gutted and redone, that track is quite possibly still there. It seems silly to put a curtain over a window with built in blinds, but I know it would take moving a mountain first to get my mother to agree to take down a curtain rod bracket that might someday be useful.

Edit: My bad, the edge of the lampshade obscured part of the window frame and tricked my eye, fooled me into thinking it had a ceiling mounted curtain rod. That window should still be a great identifier though!

 

[OctoberRust]

 

[Melquiades]

I feel like the lamp picture is probably a red herring.

Given that there are photos of them taken alive at the murder scene just before it happened and given that the camera was found at the murder scene and pretty clearly never left it after the murders, I have trouble discerning what relevance the lamp picture could possibly have. It’s probably just a mistake photo they took in someone’s house a few days before they died that has nothing to do with anything.

 

[dotr]

2022

Yavapai County Sheriff's Office continues to search for answers in 2003 cold-case double murder

Officials continue to seek information in the nearly 20-year-old murder of Scottsdale couple Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri.

www.knau.org

''A borrowed video camera was missing and a broken disposable camera was found at the scene containing what are thought to be the last photos of the victims alive.

Investigators are still trying to determine the location of another photo of a light fixture indoors.

Officials ask anyone with information to call Yavapai Silent Witness at (800) 932-3232 or at yavapaisw.com.

Authorities are offering a $10,000 cash reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case.''

 

[rob525]

Just a quick two cents. My first thought looking at the picture was that this may be from an old commercial building. The window appears to be recessed (if looking from the inside) with, perhaps older and partially missing vertical blinds. It almost reminds me of an office I worked in where the windows were recessed and the heaters, radiator type, were under the windows. JMO, the couple does not seem to be in distress in the other photos. Of course the mother would know better, but from first impression I would guess no to being in fear when the picture was snapped.

 

[WhoDisDoe]

To me, the mysterious photo looks like a reflection (in either a window or a mirror). Maybe this could also help explain the weird angle of the lamp with respect to the white bars (window casing? mirror frame?) in the foreground.

I'm curious why the police are interested in this photo, as at first glance seems like nothing special - I probably have dozens of similar pictures on my phone. Maybe its order in the photo roll is suspicious, for example if it's possible for the police to deduce it was taken on the same night as the murder.

Also, re: the last photo of Lisa, of course mother knows best; but I wonder if the unnatural smile she's picking up on has more to do with a young woman posing for a photo than anything to do with fear. To my stranger's eyes, both the victims look normal in their last pictures.

This is a very sad case and I hope their loved ones are able to find closure, and that their killer knows no peace.

All JMO