Joanie,
There was an interesting interview earlier with a wealthy elderly couple who had CR over a lot but said they ultimately stopped because he seemed so interested in their finances. There also was an article that talked about Didi being a heavy alcoholic and easily manipulated. Did you know Didi at all? Does that fit with what you have heard of her? He was supposed to be good with elderly women.
I didn't know Didi.. I hardly knew Linda. She moved in more interesting circles than we did.
But apparently Didi was alcoholic and reclusive, and was very easy to manipulate. It is very possible that CR kept in touch with Didi for several reasons... even when she ran out of money. First, he needed to keep her believing that John was a secret agent or whatever, and second, he needed to know whether the police were after him. I also believe that the two phone calls that Lydia (the bookstore lady) received, were from CR. She said that, over the next year or so, she received two phone calls (one from an employer and one from a credit card company?) inquiring about Linda. If Linda were alive and hiding, why would she use her own name and give Lydia as a reference? (If Linda were alive and not hiding, we wouldn't be wondering about her whereabouts). I laid awake for hours, thinking about this case, and trying to see the whole thing as CR saw it. How could he make sure that the police were not enquiring about Linda? By calling Lydia, and saying "Hey, we have a gal named Linda Sohus here looking for a job (or whatever), then hearing Lydia's reaction, he would know whether she was being looked for. If Lydia got all excited and asked for Linda's whereabouts, he could always hang up. But apparently she didn't, at least not the first time. That, combined with keeping in touch with Didi, would have made him feel safer. Remember, he tried to sell the truck four years later. He must have felt safe enough about selling it. He knew that they weren't looking for John and Linda.
Perhaps John got a job offer in NY and that inspired CR to act because he was going to lose his opportunity (maybe they wanted him to move out b/c they didn't want to leave him alone with Didi or they were going to take Didi with them at some point or they had some cash on hand or other items (art?) that CR wanted). Also since Linda/John already said it was a goverment satellite project that set things up nicely for him.
And CR could have called the real employer, after the murder, and made excuses as if he were John. Otherwise, the employer would have been looking for John. Another possibility is that CR set up the NY interview to give a reason for them to leave. If Didi's credit cards were used in NY, does that mean that CR went there to pay off whoever acted as the "employer"? Or did he even go in John's place, trying to get the job? (Not very likely, but hey...)
There's something here that we need to know, before understanding the murder. Was the job offer real? If not, then CR was setting the whole thing up. Maybe John figured out that the job wasn't real, and since it came through CR, he accosted CR about it and they fought?
If the job was real, was it the trigger, or just a coincidence?
Thank you for talking about this, my brain races every night with all of the pieces of this puzzle.
Joanie