juballee .... good point about DM's jail suroundings contributing to his deflated demeanor ... and come to think of it , the appearance was by video from jail , which is different than a personal appearance in court.
But I think you are mistaken about his cell phone ... he was "smart enough" to use one that was not traceable to him , he was "smart enough" not to contact the seller by email , he was "smart enough" to turn off TB's phone and toss it out on the roadside , he was "smart enough" to park his own vehicle out of site of the Bosma home , he was "smart enough" not to tackle the big guy on the other test drive , all those things have the aroma of pre-planning , at least as far as the truck theft.
And true enough , like you said , the coverup was maybe done "after the fact" .... could be they were simply planning to toss TB out of his truck and take off with it .... but there are way to many other factors conveniently in place .... an incinerator on a remote farm comes to mind.
We have to admit it was pretty good planning .... and the crime would probably remain unsolved if not for somebody finding TB's phone on the side of the road .... this is what DM did not plan for ..... the phone was linked to a call from DM's covert phone , which led to the first truck seller who noticed the ambition tattoo .... which led to DM .... which led to MB's neighbor to call about the trailer which contained the truck .... and only then did LE realize it was more than a truck theft.
I bet DM is angry about that darn cell phone somebody found in the ditch .... it screwed up his "smart" plan.
I actually don't think it was the pay as you go phone that was his downfall, since LE only had to look at the numbers that called TB that night to find the number that called him, and from there they could obtain the records of the pay as you go phone. Although I don't recall whether or not LE have that phone attributed to DM in custody from what we have been told.
I think that if he had instead contacted TB by email, people would be saying that he was 'smart enough' not to use his phone. I don't think that was a planned thing, personally, it sounds like it could be taken the same no matter which method of contact he had used. How many of us have an email account that is not in our given name, that if we had used it and we ended up a suspect for something, police would say that we were intentionally disguising our identity. If he was just looking to test drive a vehicle, it wouldn't matter to him if he used his phone or email to contact the seller, he would have picked whatever was most convenient at that time, or the method that he thought would get the quickest response, likely, so I think that eliminates the idea that he was 'smart enough' to use his phone.
Again, there are many reasons why someone does not pull into someone's driveway when stopping at a house. Some pizza delivery guys will pull into your driveway, some will not, it doesn't mean one was planning on killing you when he chose where to park, so I think that we can also eliminate the idea that it was a sign of intelligence or planning wherever the vehicle was parked when picking up the test drive vehicle. And since it is only normal not to tackle anyone on a regular test drive, I cannot see how his failure to do so with the RBEG could point to either his guilt or intelligence, so that would negate the idea that he was 'smart enough' not to tackle someone else. For that matter he was probably smart enough not to tackle all kinds of people in his day to day life, it doesn't mean he planned and carried out a murder. Those things put together could constitute some sort of convoluted half-baked plan for murder, or they could much more likely just be the way things happened because there was nothing to plan for, statistically speaking.
Anything that anyone is 'smart enough' to do after a crime is committed is not considered part of planning a crime, it would be part of the clean up after the fact, which again, does not point to intelligent planning, but the opposite, not planning for things and having to wing it afterwards. And if you happen to already own things that may be useful in the cover up of a crime that does not constitute intelligent planning, it only demonstrates being intelligent enough to know what you already have on hand and how it might be useful. I imagine that if someone found themselves with a dead body to dispose of and all that they had was a boat, we could expect that body to be weighted and tossed into a large body of water, but we wouldn't assume that the boat was bought to plan a murder. Nor would we automatically assume that the boat was bought to kill someone else when it was bought earlier. Without the prejudice of already assuming DM is guilty, those things do not in themselves constitute intelligent criminal planning, and what happened doesn't sound like anyone's idea of a smart plan, when there are hundreds of easier ways to steal a truck or kidnap and kill someone no one would notice missing.
And to answer AE, if they realized that not having a noticeable vehicle to show the RBEG was what raised his suspicions, as some suggest, then they would have been sure to have a vehicle that TB and his family could notice so that they wouldn't have raised his suspicions as well. They would have naturally learned what to improve upon after the first failed attempt, if that is what it was. And seeing as how it has been suggested that he had his own chop shop, wouldn't he have access to any number of vehicles that he could have brought with him? He wouldn't have needed to bring one registered to him even. Again, to me, this does not show forethought of planning to commit a serious crime that would remain undetected.