But he had to touch gloves to put them on.
Gloves are great at keeping fingerprints off things, not so great at keeping all epithelial cells off things. We shed 500,000,000 a day or thereabouts. He should have worn a respirator, goggles, and surgical hat, shoes, etc and never touched his own clothing except for what was laundered - if he wanted to keep all DNA off his sheath.
You breathe out some epithelial cells, for example. Scientists are currently using breath to attempt to diagnose certain lung diseases quickly and easily - from the epithelial cells emitted in breathing.
A mask will capture some of these cell, so he would have had to mask up each time he looked at his knife - but even then, masks are not 100%. 1% of 500,000,000 daily cells is a lot (and the air around us has our epithelial cells floating around until they settle somewhere).
Most people unconsciously touch their own faces several times an hour - he'd have had to practice his best gloving technique and change gloves frequently. I bet he did not do that. And everyone breathes. I doubt he was wearing a mask while he drove in his car, but perhaps he did.
As the old saying goes, something always leaves with the murderer and something is always left behind.
I bet BK is sitting in his cell wishing he had in fact opened his knife packaging while wearing gloves - he could have diminished the amount. He'd have had to change gloves frequently. DNA is not destroyed by soap, bleach or alcohol, so he couldn't just wipe his gloved fingers with wipes - but it would have helped to do that too, by dispersing some of the cells onto the wipe.
I bet, instead, that he practiced with the knife with his bare hands. He thought he'd be tossing both knife and sheath.
IMO. Speculation, of course.
New to WS... Been lurking for all 72 threads. Just a thought about the sheaf:
"Everything is created twice; first in the mind and then in reality." - attributed to Robin Sharma.
It is my opinion (MOO) based on reports and statements from LE, that the killer planned the murders in advance.
1) The particular weapon was chosen for a reason: It was imagined to be quiet, easy to obtain but hard to trace and easy to conceal. So the killer put the idea into reality by procuring the weapon.
2) The killer may have imagined what would be required to vanquish another human being. Possibly practiced different stabbing motions.
3) The killer may have constructed a mental map of how to gain entry, and leave without detection. This may have included time of day, how to get there/approach, what to wear, and timing.
MOO, MOO, I believe it HAD to be premeditated. Planned. Researched. Imagined over and over. In his mind, firs
He approaches with the knife. Gains entry. Goes upstairs. Finds himself there, ready to do this act he has been imagining. He pulls the knife from the sheaf, and drops it or places it on the bed because he needs that hand to push against or subdue his first victim. And moves from there to the next and the next.
In other words, he never imagined beforehand what to do with the sheaf once he removed the knife. He didn't lose it, he dropped it or put it down, without thought. He did not intend to leave it, he just did not imagine, plan, how to make sure he exited with it. MOO.
I wonder when the killer first became aware the sheath was no longer in his possession?
