Thank you
@gliving and
@jepop for the photos! ♥ ♥
I think I'm (maybe) done obsessing over how the killer got to and from the house, or at least I'm realizing I need to stop obsessing over it and put it on the don't know until we get more information list. Especially since my main curiousity about it concerns the extremely tight time line of when the murders occurred.
IMHO the easiest route would have been to walk down the street between the house and the apartments and either walk to the house from down where the trash cans were or a little above that (where one could jump down or sit and then go over the embankment). From there he could have gone around the side of the house to the back. The main problems with that would be that he would have been visible to cars going by, people looking out their windows, and possibly getting caught on a camera - unless the one at the house next door only picks up audio.
The other way would have been if he'd scouted out a less difficult way to cut thru the woods from the parking lot above / behind the house. That would provide the most cover and would seem the most likely, but I still believe it would be less than ideal. Watching LE make their way down during the day (on the video) shows it is possible, but even though they could see where they're going, they still held onto trees, stepped over underbrush, etc and pushed limbs out of the way so they didn't get slapped in the face by them. In the dark, it seems like one would need a flashlight at the very least -- and maybe he did have one and stuck it in a pocket or left it sitting on the patio. IMO - or more just plain speculation than opinion with all of this.
In thread 5, page 11
@otto posted a very interesting map and wrote: "I'm always curious about the location of murders. I pulled up a topography map.
Each blue line represents a 10 feet increase in elevation. The red line is the property boundary. Queen Street is at the top of the map. There are measurement tools available too. That looks like a steep, treed back yard." - the map is linked below.(BBM)
Thank you to everyone for your input, great ideas and suggestions!
The video showing LE walking thru the woods behind the house:
Local police arrive at ISP office and scour the backwoods of Idaho murders
www.foxnews.com
Thank you so much for finding this! I have been thinking about that post, but had no clue how to begin to find it. And I've been too lazy/tired to go figure out how to do a topo map from Google.
So I'd guess it's not more than 12 feet gain/loss along the stretch between where a car could park near the back and getting to the deck, over about 40 yards. That's basically a gentle to moderate slope.
I'm sorry I was misleading with the night running post - but I am going to stand by my view that anyone who is used to running/hiking at night is going to be able to do that stretch near the house with no problem. At some point, we discussed the moon phase and rise/set times, but it was certainly not a pitch black night, and it's possible the murderer had a headlamp (I'd put mine on red, which is what I do when I walk the dogs in the neighborhood at night, makes me nearly invisible but provides enough light for me - I am way way older than the suspect) to walk about. I did grow up in a semi-rural, somewhat hilly town, and thought nothing in my high school years (or now) to being out and about in uneven terrain.
I did think the friend giving the info about the running was more recent, but I also stand by my point that the skills needed for this, esp when developed young, don't just disappear.
I think BK looks more athletic at 28 than he does in his high school photos. We do not know if he still night runs, but the showering and activity noted at night at his student apartment make me think he (like me) is a night owl and he may still exercise in some way at night.
When I come across the pictures of KG and friend standing at that deck (on police bodycam) I'll screen shot if it shows part of that hill. Personally, I think the task of entering the house from that hidden area (not from the front parking lot) was more interesting and challenging.
It also got me to thinking about SPECULATION that I haven't seen covered here (much) and that has to do with whether BK had
gone to Moscow on other occasions than the 12 mentioned in the PCA, perhaps parking somewhere on the other side of campus, and then jogging or running around this little neighborhood where 1122 is located. We know that his phone *connected* to cell towers near the house, but what about pings off other cell towers where his phone was not recognized? Surely they have a lot of that sort of data. Also jogging/running around other campus residential areas.
We may see way more digital forensics in June. If so, that could bury BK almost as much as finding victim blood or ID among his possessions. I also felt, even before we ever heard his name, that this type of crime might be related to "hot prowling" and if so, it's possible that the ID's that were found in PA came from various places (to which his movements might be matched by digital evidence). That's one of my favorite theories right now.
As to assessing cause of death, top notch medical examiners (and I believe the one in Spokane is state-of-the-art) probably aren't going to do more than mention stomach contents. I'll put together another post about newer methods of assessing ToD (and of course, LE already had the four redacted autopsies when they put together the PDA - they know that nothing in the autopsies - which were seen by the judge - contradicts the timing in the PCA).
And as to the difference in language about the nature of the victims' wounds, I believe that's due to there being different pathologists involved in the four autopsies.
I cannot be convinced that, with a staff of 4-5 top notch forensic pathologists at the new facility in Spokane, that just one person performed all four. It makes no sense. I believe it's possible that 3 of those pathologists (possibly 4) were involved in leading up the autopsies, and each used slightly different language (all of it consistent with forensic pathology training and some of it rather interchangeable). At every autopsy I've seen or had records of, the pathologists dictates orally into a device as they do their findings.
I haven't seen more than a dozen in person but I've read 100's. One of my jobs was to procure the autopsies along with the audio transcripts, and summarize then for our case files. Sometimes the audio contained bits of extra information that were not in the written report, but more typically, the written report was just a lightly edited version of the dictations. If anyone else has experience in this area that's more recent than mine (I did this until 1985) I would be much obliged if let me know your own perspectives.
For those of you outside the US (and some of you who are inside, the below link to the Spokane County Medical Examiner's page might be of interest, especially the "of note" part at the bottom. It also has links showing the new facility and emphasizing the technical competence of the staff.
IMO.
The Medical Examiner is dedicated to excellence in public service by providing professional, scientific, and compassionate forensic death investigation services.
www.spokanecounty.org
MOO