Additionally:
Ernesto, I generally agree with your posts and we often both seem to come at things from a place of trying to be logical/realistic about what is likely to have happened. But I see in this thread you also do reject the "thrill kill" idea. That is my personal belief about what went down--"let's kill someone, and free truck as a bonus", just without the extra sensationalist stuff like satanism and snuff videos tacked on.
But if you don't think it was a thrill kill--which is a thing that happens--what do you think DID happen?
Thanks Ariane, I too appreciate your posts.
I don't follow the "thrill kill" theory for a number of reasons, chiefly because they could have achieved the same effect with far less traveling and far less risk. They could have chosen any street person, or abducted someone on an empty street where no one was watching... but they went through a lengthy process of tracking down a particular truck, and drove to Ancaster to get it (EDIT - from a person who would clearly be missed). It just doesn't make sense from that perspective. That, coupled with the fact that the whole idea of "thrill killing" is extremely sensationalist, it's not a common thing, and it would be extremely bizarre for these two guys to come together a participate in such a heinous act.
I haven't put together a cohesive theory because the facts are so incredibly disjointed for me. These are the problems I have with the case:
- DM is extremely wealthy, and could buy 10 of these trucks if he wanted them
- The evidence was left all over DM's properties, which seems implausible even for the dumbest criminal
- Both DM and MS made no attempt to further hide the evidence after depositing it at the hangar, the farm, and DM's mother's house - DM wasn't captured for days after allegedly doing all of this
Those issues lead to these questions for me:
- Why would DM involve himself in stealing a truck?
- Why would he allow himself to be seen by SB, and potentially anyone else who could have been home at the time?
- Why steal it in a way that could easily cause the situation that led to TB's death?
- Why would the two of them not spend more time getting rid of the evidence?
Let's say you are a who wants a truck but can't afford it, or you have the money but don't want to pay. You find this truck on Kijiji, way over in Ancaster. Let's say you know that hotwiring this truck is impossible, requiring the key fob, and loading it onto your trailer by the cover of night would be too loud and near impossible. What would your plan be? I think the first part makes sense. You use a burner phone, and you find out where the truck is by calling the owner and arranging a test drive. That's the easy part. The hard part is deciding how to take the key fob from the owner. There are three possibilities here.
- Carjack the owner when they come home in the evening or leave in the morning, using disguises - don't need to kill anyone, just take the guy out of his truck at gun/knife point, tie him up, and drive off to your waiting trailer
- Wear disguises, show up to your "test drive", accost the owner in his home, restrain him and the other occupants, and drive away to your waiting trailer
- Take the test drive without disguises, knowing full well the owner and any other occupants of his home will see your face, toss him out on some remote dirt road, and drive to your waiting trailer
I think the idea that DM and MS cooked up a scheme to steal a truck (just to see if they could get away with it) is entirely possible. The fantasy of robbing a bank or committing a heist is common amongst young men who think they're invincible... I just find it so incredibly hard to believe that these guys had no proper plan in place, and the idea was simply to walk up to his home, be seen by the occupants of his home, take him on a test drive, and then realize "crap, what do we do with this guy?!"... it defies logic! They've seen enough movies and TV, know enough about how this stuff works, and had plenty of time to plan how they were going to do it.
Also, a small curiosity - if a stranger came to your house, with a very tiny tattoo of the word "ambition" on his wrist, do you think you'd see it? I think the guy must have asked DM what it said. I have not seen a single photo in MSM or elsewhere where the tattoo is legible, it's so small.