...I feel like he planned it out completely. IMO Gianni was an easy target to prey on and he shot him (there is a reference to the passenger seat having a lot of blood in the warrants) and similar situation with Sal and Ilona when they were sitting there. Sal and Ilona [sit] there for 20 min trying to find out where Gianni is. It's weird she called the jails and hospitals right away...I wonder if Gianni's car was still there with the blood in the passenger seat and that's why she called those places? Or it could be that she knew something was wrong when Gianni did not show up? ilona was able to dial 911--that means she had a few seconds to press 911 + send wait for the call to connect and then tell operator she had been shot and where she was located. Or did she see CM driving the car back to drop it off after Gianni was in the trunk and she knew at that point she needed to call 911 but was only able to see she had been shot. From what I understand there were some eyewitnesses why would he risk people seeing him?
Like all of you, I can only guess as to what actually happened on Christmas Eve last year. There remains no clear motive, and CM's mental problems make it less likely that he can even explain his actions that night. In fact, his actions may have no logic to them, which frustrates the people here with intact logical thinking even further.
As others have pointed out, though, despite his derangement, he planned ahead in a way that reveals that he wasn't a completely disorganized person. Psychopaths, unfortunately, can be highly functional when it comes to planning the murders of others (Charles Manson, James Holmes, David Berkowitz [Son of Sam], etc).
It is possible that CM knew of no connection between G and I/S, but it certainly seems like a tragic coincidence that two people delayed in a parking lot met the same fate because of their concern for another who was already murdered there. Improbable, but not impossible.
If you saw that the driver seat in your boyfriend's car was full of blood, would you stay in that same location and call jails and hospitals as to his welfare? I think most people in that situation would call the police immediately before anyone else. Some might stay there until the police arrived, but I think the "fight or flight" mechanism would cause many people to beat a hasty retreat from that location. Also, in this scenario, CM would have had to have killed Gianni, and then picked him up and put him in the trunk shortly thereafter. Have you ever tried to move a lifeless human body by yourself (or even with one other person)? It is quite awkward, not to mention difficult, and I can't imagine he would have attempted that in the parking lot. Perhaps poor Gianni was just pushed aside so CM could drive the vehicle, extricating his body from the car at a later time in a more private location. (I don't think I/S knew G was even there--but they did worry about where he
was. Their first response, then, was to call jails and hospitals? To me, that's telling.)
CM is a sick man--but we already knew that. And, his family probably knew that as well. Perhaps they just thought he was moody--but not homicidal. Sadly, there is a lot of shame associated with mental illness, and many families don't confront this head on, because
then, you have to admit that someone close to you has a problem. I have no way of verifying if that is true for the Mercado family. (Even if other family members are diligent about their concern and care of another family member that has mental illness, there is no guarantee that the affected party will care for themselves properly--or even can.)
To be declared incompetent to face capital murder charges indicates that CM is in very sad shape mentally. Does his mental illness factor in to his actions last Christmas Eve?
Absolutely.
Will anyone ever understand why he committed these murders?
Only time will tell, and probably only if CM gets well enough to tell his story.
