I think he lawyered up once he was named suspect which I would also do. I respect your opinion and I think this is one of the many things that we all differ on. I have read enough articles to stick with my opinion. So I guess this is one subject we'll have to agree to disagree.
Also people are able to pass LDT as seen in this article:
http://www.crimemuseum.org/library/serialKillers/garyRidgway.html
Hon3yb33, I agree with you about the polygraph. Were I a person of interest or a prime suspect in a murder or disappearance, but innocent of any wrongdoing, it would be a very hard decision as to whether to take it and risk a false reading that would make LE and the public "know" that Im guilty, or refuse to take it and risk LE and the public thinking Im guilty because I refused. Its a no-win choice. I suppose, too, that an attorney could recommend a client against taking the poly, so that the client would be following his attorneys suggestion.
A couple of people on this thread had recommended reading a book called
Finding Amy, a true crime novel about a young woman who went missing in Maine, and whose body was eventually located. I found it interesting that the initial person of interest in the case
agreed to LEs request to take the polygraphand he failed, although, as it turned out, he had nothing to do with the murder.
The Wikipedia article on polygraphs has an interesting take (with it being understood that, as with all sources, one has to be guarded about taking the article as absolute truth):
Polygraphy has little credibility among scientists. Despite claims of 90-95% validity by polygraph advocates, and 95-100% by businesses providing polygraph services, critics maintain that rather than a "test", the method amounts to an inherently unstandardizable interrogation technique whose accuracy cannot be established. A 1997 survey of 421 psychologists estimated the test's average accuracy at about 61%, a little better than chance. Critics also argue that even given high estimates of the polygraph's accuracy a significant number of subjects (e.g. 10% given a 90% accuracy) will appear to be lying, and would unfairly suffer the consequences of "failing" the polygraph.
Source: Wikipedia on Polygraphs
Of course, anything stated here in my own words is strictly MOO.
Oh, and by the way, Hon3yb33:
Why thank you! I haven't been told this before!
(Sorry, couldn't resist)