Adding to my prior reply ....
SS's coolness under fire, honed as a successful CEO and even in motorsports, turned out not to be an asset in this situation. We know Philip was screaming, and we know that Wint didn't trust either of the women to be on the phone, other than AS briefly with Domino's. But SS was cool under fire and was able to communicate with a variety of people, sometimes with extraordinary requests ($40K cash on almost notice, mysterious drop of cash in car, etc.), without anyone being suspicious enough to push further, let alone involve LE. Even poor VF's husband, banging on the door, was somehow sent away with a ludicrous call by SS, even when the husband knew that there were people in the house and cars parked everywhere.
Wint's had a masterful accomplice in SS, who also helped keep the others calm and quiet. I know what SS was trying to do and what he hoped would be the result of full cooperation, but I subscribe to the notion that anyone willing to tie up my family, while not wearing a mask, means to kill us all. In fact, that's the logical ending. Why should Wint leave four eyewitnesses alive?
I think this is a stumbling block for police investigators. They intuit that Wint must have had an accomplice to control those four murdered people for so long. He did: SS.
At the same time, I know SS was only trying to save his family and VF from harm. He was motivated by his heart and his belief in the humanity of fellow man, even a captor. But his son had the better instincts.
I would be interested in a discussion about what SS's right move should have been, at various points. For example, cowardly as this sounds, I think SS getting out of the house himself would have been a great move, at any opportunity including the very first moment he came home. Would Wint escalate to murder knowing that he was leaving a surviving witness? The rational move would be to try to physically stop SS from leaving and, failing that, getting out of that house himself. What kind of criminal is going to stay cornered in a house in order to escalate his crime?
SS presumably carried a cell phone. Run for the door, yelling "I'm calling 911!" Get to the street. Call 911. Game over in 3 - 4 minutes. If Wint had any brains at all, he'd be using those minutes to get out of the neighborhood.
I also believe, and this is proven, that thinking through scenarios and decisions in advance helps make those decisions immediate and successful in real life. This happened to me in one emergency situation, and I reacted instinctively - but only because I had thought through what I was willing to risk, and I was therefore not afraid of violence, nor did I freeze in surprise or caution. Part of my interest in this case is trying to think through the proper decisions that should have been made. As a society, we need to be smarter and not just victims to criminals. Don't let the bad guys win the same way again and again. Next time, we'll be prepared, but only if some lessons are learned.
Do you think 4 guys with box cutters are ever going to control a U.S. commercial jet again? They weren't even about to keep control of the 4th plane that day, because the passengers had learned what happened to the first 3 planes. This is how a society keeps the upper hand.
