I think "mastermind" isn't a very accurate description of whoever planned this crime.
I don't think DW wore a mask, either, because I think he came in through the front door. I would assume the S family had a security system, but I wouldn't have assumed they had a safe. I don't think it's terribly common for people to have one of those giant safes at their house, unless they run a cash heavy business like a restaurant, where they might have to take home receipts before the bank opens. How do you think DW would know there was a safe? Or just a lucky guess on his part? Pretty insane that the safe would have been visible from the street if the garage door was open - especially if it's true that they left the garage doors open all the time. But, consider the source... I might have just answered my own question.
If DW hadn't set the house on fire, driving the Porsche away from the crime was a fine exit plan. The only reason LE was looking for the car is because someone noticed it was missing because of the fire. Whoever planned this crime, ahead of time or on the fly, obviously didn't think about how one aspect could affect another. Setting the house on fire to eliminate evidence - good idea. Doing it right before you take off in a stolen car - bad idea.
I know I'll get yelled at, and DW
is a violent psychopath, but when I read about DW making those threats against children, I thought of it as posturing meant to scare the adults because nothing is more frightening than one's child being threatened. He may have meant it, but it's not necessary for him to have been really thinking about murdering children to make those kinds of threats in a rage. The people who got orders of protection
all later let DW live with them, so it's hard to know how seriously they even took the threats. It's only because of what DW did to PS that I know he has the capacity and will to carry out that kind of violence against a child. Before that, I would have thought it was just more of his psycho-angry raging.
