With all due respect, and understanding that people are allowed to change their minds, andreww has also expressed his opinion that BS was trying to stage it as a double suicide. Obviously double suicide just doesn't work, since HS's face was marked up and from somewhere in her body, she bled out a 'pool' of blood. If BS was to try to make it appear to be a double murder, I'm confident he was intelligent enough to do a better job of it, ie, break some stuff, maybe remove some valuables out of the home, break a lock or two, cut himself up a bit. The man had time on his hands. If he was able to leave the home without detection to dispose of the wrist bindings, then he just as easily could have also disposed of some valuables to make it look like a theft or home invastion or something.. even a sexual assault perhaps, on HS.
Clearly, murders ARE also staged to make murders look like different *types* of murders, as can be found freely on the internet.
It seems to make much more sense to think that someone who committed murder, would want to make it appear to be murder/suicide to ward off detection.
"Among key problems for any investigator, and the reason why staging might succeed, is the cognitive error known as threshold diagnosis, which leads to tunnel vision. That is, investigators might decide what must have happened as soon as they arrive, which tends to anchor them in their hypothesis. They fail to notice items that might discount their notions. An inconsistency, such as Jocelyn’s habit of writing by hand, can be easily minimized and dismissed.
This is why even an amateur stager can fool detectives.
....
The basis for a solid investigation is victimology, and Pettler describes this approach. Since most victims knew the offender in those crime scenes that she analyzed, she insists that a full victimology be performed.
The bottom line for her is to bring more awareness to the problem of homicide staging and the need for investigative training.
I’m working on a study of suicide notes and I’m amazed at how many death investigators have said to me, “If there’s a note, it’s a suicide.” That the scene could be staged doesn’t seem to register unless it’s obvious. Yet I have a collection of faked suicide notes from homicides."
Staging Murder
