BBM
Interesting that it was McD who mentioned the door jam. Seems he was implying that Lauren simply hadn't come home (deflecting suspicion away from the apartments), because the door jam would have been in place (and no one able to enter the apartment) if she had been home. Remember, if her torso hadn't been found before the trash was picked up at BH the following Thurs., LE wouldn't have any evidence that Lauren disappeared from her home. They would have no way of knowing whether she became a victim of crime or an accident while away from home ... somewhere on campus, while out running, etc.
I've thought the same as Tomkat ... LG was already dead when Bostic's GF saw McD outside, IMO. I don't think McD anticipated Bostic returning to his apartment that weekend, especially that late at night. He was taken off guard, but he tried to act nonchalant so as not to arouse suspicion about what he was doing. He may have gone inside his apartment after the encounter, since he knew someone was watching, but he could have returned to Lauren's apartment after Boyd went inside her BF's apartment.
I really think McD/the perp entered Lauren's apartment while she was picking up dinner at Zaxby's and waited for her. McD had a key to her apartment and the door jam wouldn't have been in place if Lauren wasn't home so he had easy access at that time. He may have entered Lauren's apartment again while Bostic and Boyd were in the apartment below hers to make them think Lauren was home and alive that night. MOO
These are some astute thoughts, IMO (on the guilt side of the fence, of course). Since the prosecution is basically saying they will use the testimony to set a timeline, I wonder if they are indeed going to propose, as you say, that Lauren was already deceased at the time of the witness's encounter with SM.
Thoughts/questions in response:
If Lauren was already (fairly newly) deceased when the witness encountered SM, though, why would SM have been out wandering about with a stick/staff? Scouting out disposal locations...or...?
Also: It is almost unbelievable to me that SM would have used the downstairs apartment for any activities after having that encounter with the tenant and his girlfriend -- unless, of course, as bessie wondered earlier, he may have known for SURE somehow that they were about to set off for a trip, etc., and wouldn't be likely to drop back in for a few days. (Indeed, regardless of SM's guilt or innocence, I still have my
doubts that the downstairs apartment WAS used in relation to Lauren's murder -- though it may well have been.)
Wow, I would love to know the information that is in the affidavits from these two witnesses!
As I have said before, what Hogue said about the one (the female) witness in the short clip from the December pretrial hearing MAY have included some "defense spin", I don't know. But he seemed to be describing a scene where the witness saw and exchanged waves with SM and was
at the same time aware of Lauren (Hogue said) moving around in her apartment. (Silhouette on the shade, maybe ...? Just guessing, Hogue didn't say that.) If that is true, the witness still could have HEARD more movement later, after she went in her boyfriend's apartment.
I can't recall if Hogue cited an "exact" time of the witness encounter with SM -- I'm thinking he gave something of a "ballpark" such as "around 10:30 or 11", but not exactly sure -- but it seemed he was looking at it as "timeline" material, too -- from the defense side. In the clip, as Hogue was talking quite matter-of-factly about SM's alleged location when the witness saw him, Judge Simms pretty much interrupted to say (with a bit of a raised eyebrow, I thought) something like "Which is the area where the torso was discovered...!" Hogue said yes, but that was later, and the witness said she was aware at the same time of Lauren moving around in her apartment, so "we know she was alive." Pretty sure he mentioned both the timing of incident and the time of Lauren's last email as fitting a scenario where Lauren was still alive at the time.
(All my "quotes" in paragraph above are definitely paraphrasing, but I think it's pretty close.)
I guess one "guilt" possibility, if witness DID see SM and become aware of movement in Lauren's apartment simultaneously, is that Lauren was by that time injured, or maybe bound...? (How heartbreaking would that be...) That I'd-call-it-vague FBI analysis described a scenario in which Lauren was removed from her apartment "to another location" by the perp; interestingly, it is not specific about whether this is thought to have occurred before or after her death. SM, if the perp, could have been scouting about for a place to which to remove her, I suppose, even while she was alive.
The clip of Hogue, by the way, did
not reveal the identity of the witness -- it was a brief clip -- so if one viewed it one did not come away knowing that this had ANYTHING to do with the downstairs apartment, its tenant, or his girlfriend -- only that a female witness (who apparently could recognize SM, either before or after the fact) saw him. (It's clear to me now, though, after this latest news, that this was the witness being spoken about.)
