I was out working in the garden this weekend while drinking beer and swatting mosquito's and I got into a conversation about this particular case with my live-in girlfriend of 6 years. She isn't a member of Websleuths, and she really doesn't know too much about it, but she knows I follow certain crimes and mysteries on here and she thinks it is an interesting hobby as long as there isn't any flirting and hanky panky going on that might actually result in a criminal act being performed on me.
All that said, I was the one that told her about the Dermonds and the crime in general, along with many of the details made public by the sheriff and the media.
My question to her was what her take on it would be. I will refer to her as MT, which are the initials of her first and last name to avoid a bunch of typing.
She thought it would be a good idea to look into the possibility of a copycat killing which was perpetrated by someone with a fascination over a movie or a movie series. MT seems to think that this could be a single individual or a couple or even a boyfriend and girlfriend team. A lot of teenagers and younger people become totally infatuated with something they see happen in a movie to the point it actually becomes part of their being. MT was wondering if there was a movie out there somewhere that mimics EXACTLY the crime that was perpetrated on the Dermonds. She didn't mean some of the details, she means ALL of the details....to a T. She is of the opinion that the person or persons that committed this crime were probably known to the Dermonds to the point of a friendly wave or a "how are ya' doing?". She doesn't think this is about robbery or trying to get a lot of money, although that would have been a nice bonus. The Dermonds were pretty elderly and fragile, so they would make easy targets. MT is of the opinion that this was a crime committed solely to "see if we can get away with it": just like the killer got away with it in their favorite slasher movie or psycho killer series.
I pressed her a little further and she used as an example the couple that gunned down the two cops in Nevada recently, and then went into the Walmart across the street and kept shooting up innocents. MT's theory was that their favorite move was probably Natural Born Killers and that they had probably watched it hundreds of times to the point of knowing every line in the movie. So, when they get ready to go out and act like Mickey and Mallory, they essentially mimicked everything in that movie with the exception that they went to a Walmart instead of a pharmacy, like in the movie. They gun down cops, they desecrate them with a rebel flag, they randomly shoot people unknown to them, and they have a firefight with the cops. Natural Born Killers--part 2
So, if her theory is true, and someone was actually mimicking something they saw in a movie, how could they be caught ?? MT's idea was that first the movie would need to be found. Same plot, same details. bad guy gets away with it. After that movie is located, a concentrated effort would need to be made through the media that anyone that knows of a teenager, young adult, married couple, or a loner who was fascinated with that movie and that crime to the point of letting it engulf their existence, should be singled out for further review. This wouldn't be someone who watched this flick 5 times. this would be someone who watched it 500 times and tried to dress and act just like the people in the movie, or talked like them, etc. Parents, grandparents, school friends, co-workers, one or all may recognize not only the movie in question but the person that is infatuated with it.
Although this theory on the surface seems somewhat crazy, what about this case has made any sense so far ?? Could it actually be so mundane as a person(s) acting out something that they were infatuated with , to commit the perfect crime? The goal was to literally re-create something they have seen and wanted to try?
Anybody out there that has ever watched a horror flick, slasher flick, serial killer movie that may have this exact plot, please post the name of it here. If you have teenagers around the house, ask them if they have ever seen a movie or a movie series with this plot. I don't normally watch the blood and gore type stuff, but I know there is a whole lot of people out there that do. MT's theory was that the killer(s) would have followed the plot in the movie down to the exact details, includings boats, machetes, and beheadings. The purpose behind this of course would be to avoid getting caught and to perplex the cops and terrorize the public.
MT had an interesting take on it, although she doesn't follow Websleuths or read many of the posts in here too often. This idea, or a version of it. may have already been posted in here. Way too many threads in here for me to go back and avoid duplication though.
If anything can be done in here to help generate ideas and possible theories, it seems like it might be a very good idea. I think the cops are running out of both leads and tips. Maybe something like this slasher flick idea will help to jog somebodies memory.
