Harley in the Hangar: Chop Shop?

[Solo712]

Det-Sgt Kavanagh was part of the task force that looked after vehicle thefts, now called BEAR for the Hamilton Police Services. This was BEFORE he moved to the homicide unit. (I think he was in homicide, then went to property crimes and was a part of setting up BEAR and then back to homicide, but I'm not sure until I find the links again, if possible.

Well, I have found something that puts this conjecture to rest (hopefully):

After Millard’s arrest, Hamilton homicide investigator Det.-Sgt. Matt Kavanagh said he was consulting auto squad experts about the possibility a chop shop was running out of the hangar. Millard’s lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, has dismissed that theory.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2..._attempted_third_test_drive_of_dodge_ram.html

Surely, if Kavanagh wasn't sure himself what to make of the vehicles in the hangar he would not have been part of the BEAR unit. I am sticking with the reports that say the Sgt-Det's background is homicide.

Best,
J.

 

[gimme sugar]

Sadly I don't think they set out to steal a truck. I think they set out to kill. the truck was part of some sick, twisted game plan.

That's why it makes so little sense to ask, why would he do it when he was so rich?

He wasn't doing it for the truck. He was doing it for the thrill.

The truck was likely a trophy, for carrying out the sick plan.

Tim was just very, very unlucky.

Sadly, I diasagree. Knowing he test drove/tried to test drive a 3rd truck, a specific one, I think it was about the engine, not the truck, as his own 3500, didn't have the upgraded engine.

 

[Carli]

One account of Kavanaugh's background was reported by crime writer Ross McLean. There's a FB page with the Kavanaugh information written on May 28 but I don't think it's permissible to provide the link. (Completely OT, but McLean also notes that used to play University Football at Simon Fraser and was drafted by the BC Lions.)

 

[Sillybilly]

Well, I have found something that puts this conjecture to rest (hopefully):



Surely, if Kavanagh wasn't sure himself what to make of the vehicles in the hangar he would not have been part of the BEAR unit. I am sticking with the reports that say the Sgt-Det's background is homicide.

Best,
J.

LOL, methinks you are conjecturing that homicide detectives are born. Hate to break it to you Solo, but they start as rookies and come up through the ranks from somewhere.

When I read the article, I just made a mental note as a point of interest. Didn't realize it would become such a point of contention. Anyway, still haven't found the original article that I was searching for at your behest, but this article gives some background on Det Kavanagh when he was the department's scrap specialist working, in this case, with the Major Crimes division. It sounds like his expertise in that area is what brought him into the Lax case.

In most PDs, the Major Crimes units don't confine themselves to homicide; it also includes robbery investigations, sex crimes, financial crimes, organized crime, forensic identification, auto theft, attempted murder, etc.

from:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/2252080-a-dying-man-talks-chapter-13/

Kavanagh joined the police service in 1983, and during the 18 months before being assigned to the Lax case, he had been working as the police service's special scrap officer. It was a post that had been vacant for six years before he was appointed.

Stick with whatever report you want; doesn't matter to me

 

[Sleuthv]

Sadly, I diasagree. Knowing he test drove/tried to test drive a 3rd truck, a specific one, I think it was about the engine, not the truck, as his own 3500, didn't have the upgraded engine.

I have to agree with Curiositykitten the kill was the goal, the truck was a secondary plan, the chosen method to get to the object. I believe DM was so out of empathy and any sense of reality he just wanted the ultimate experience of holding life and death in his hands. The truck is what his friends agreed to steal, but this time DM wants more than the kick of stealing.

In the pic of his hanger is a wood chopper repainted (WHERE was it repainted) and three vehicles, plus and engine part shown to the left. The hanger is where he allowed his friends to store his trophies. I am sure he paid for the paint job and the cars he wanted, for whatever reason.

The cops have to check paint chips (the producer) and shops that ordered that colour in 2012-13. The wood chopper is a odd colour of green. I know it may be impossible to track whom would have bought or had that paint in their garage or that plus the red and blue of the other two vehicles that we see freshly painted.

If it wasn't about the kill, then why not just barter with TB for a decent price.
Now call me lazy TB's truck is a 2006, the upgraded desired engine is 2010 did I or did I not read that somewhere. Will check have to check that otherwise I wwill be posting twice.

 

[expat cdn]

I was wondering too, where DM and his friends had the vehicles painted. I have found on FB some of their friends do work for auto body/collision places in Brantford.

 

[SteveP]

I have to agree with Curiositykitten the kill was the goal, the truck was a secondary plan, the chosen method to get to the object. I believe DM was so out of empathy and any sense of reality he just wanted the ultimate experience of holding life and death in his hands. The truck is what his friends agreed to steal, but this time DM wants more than the kick of stealing.

In the pic of his hanger is a wood chopper repainted (WHERE was it repainted) and three vehicles, plus and engine part shown to the left. The hanger is where he allowed his friends to store his trophies. I am sure he paid for the paint job and the cars he wanted, for whatever reason.

The cops have to check paint chips (the producer) and shops that ordered that colour in 2012-13. The wood chopper is a odd colour of green. I know it may be impossible to track whom would have bought or had that paint in their garage or that plus the red and blue of the other two vehicles that we see freshly painted.

If it wasn't about the kill, then why not just barter with TB for a decent price.
Now call me lazy TB's truck is a 2006, the upgraded desired engine is 2010 did I or did I not read that somewhere. Will check have to check that otherwise I wwill be posting twice.

I don't believe that killing someone was the primary goal, but I don't think having to kill someone was going to get in the way of achieving the primary goal, which I think was the truck, or at least the engine that was was in the truck. And yes, although he easily could pay for the truck, I think the goal was to steal one. Maybe the thrill lied in that. If killing had been the only goal, they could have killed any number of people without having to devise such an elaborate scheme to make them vulnerable. I believe the fact that they inquired about at least three, and maybe four very similar trucks within a day or two of the murder certainly seems to validate the opinion that the truck or engine was what they were most interested in. JMO

 

[ArianeEmory]

I've always said I think the incentives were 1) kill 2) truck.

I think the initial test drives were either dry runs, or deemed too risky, such as "really big guy".

 

[SideKick]

Wonder what brought this on? Seriously?! What were they thinking... This is more than one issue, but many these guys appear to be involved in. I think DM is the dude who orders the Smich's what to do. Too many layers here... Drugs/Killing/kidnapping/Grand Auto Theft.

 

[Sleuthv]

You know something, when I look back to the day of the HPS press conference on May 14th, it was this very fact that left me infuriated. As D/Sgt Kavanagh revealed the facts, I sat there, feeling the steam rising, mixed with bitterness. Someone possessing a great amount of wealth, choosing to end the life of a working man trying to raise a family, just for a truck.

There was a mad flurry of thoughts here on the motive, with numerous posters positing theories that it was a payback, drugs, etc., yet few considered that it was just about a truck and getting rid of the owner who stood in the way. If you go to the "Truck as Motive" thread, there is the link posted there about a case in China where a little baby was strangled because it happened to be in its car seat and an "imposition" on the thief's plan.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9501054&postcount=33

Folks, this is the way that some people think and operate, their mindset, their callousness, and even their sense of humour. A common prefacing statement in many threads here was, "I can't wrap my head around it", and that is simply because you are not of the same mindset as the accused individuals.

This crime is all the more heinous, precisely for this fact: it was the murder of a man for his personal vehicle, a vehicle of much lesser value than the assets of the thief, and the death of a family man whose net worth (monetarily) was no where near the thief's. And a young woman and her daughter are left with an incurable pain of the soul, a loss never to be forgotten.

Spin the theories if you will, and for some, proclaim the absurdity of it, but it has happened. Sadly, I have a feeling that the full justice will never be served in this case.

we all are looking for what in us could lead us to do this... or what in us is so different that we could never do this.... life is about personal growth. And if you never question your own beliefs, you never know your true self.

Yes, sadly there will be a case in the news that let's us put TB, Torie Strafford and Christen French into the files of our mind and question another tragic case.

But one day all those collective minds will say we have reasoned it out and believe the criminal justice system needs to changed... do this or that.

Justice is not and eye for and eye, but a decision on what we call civilized behaviour to each other, in actions, in charity for another, and putting us before I. Until honesty comes before punishment, justice well fail.

I truly think as human beings we have to care for each other or we are doomed.

 

[Coldpizza]

I don't believe that killing someone was the primary goal, but I don't think having to kill someone was going to get in the way of achieving the primary goal, which I think was the truck, or at least the engine that was was in the truck. And yes , although he easily could pay for the truck, I think the goal was to steal one. Maybe the thrill lied in that. If killing had been the only goal, they could have killed any number of people without having to devise such an elaborate scheme to make them vulnerable. I believe the fact that they inquired about at least three, and maybe four very similar trucks within a day or two of the murder certainly seems to validate the opinion that the truck or engine was what they were most interested in. JMO

Sadly, I think what they were after was just the engine, a 6.7-litre diesel Cummins engine valued at big dollars and apparently rare enough they took the life of TB for it.

 

[Solo712]

LOL, methinks you are conjecturing that homicide detectives are born.

No, you are wrong about this also. I simply stated that the reports about Kavanagh state that his background was homicide. This in response to your and CanuckSleuth's assertions that he had expertize in organized auto theft.

When I read the article, I just made a mental note as a point of interest. Didn't realize it would become such a point of contention. Anyway, still haven't found the original article that I was searching for at your behest, but this article gives some background on Det Kavanagh when he was the department's scrap specialist working, in this case, with the Major Crimes division. It sounds like his expertise in that area is what brought him into the Lax case.

It is not as much a point of contention as it is a point of fact, sillybilly. The debate started after I expressed surprise at the investigators returning parts of the stolen Harley to the original owner instead of keeping them as evidence. This is an obvious miscue, no matter how you look at it and no matter how much you think you know about policing. Paradkar gleefully commented on it. <modsnip>

Thank you for your co-operation !

Best,
J.

ETA: Even chess grandmasters make sometimes strange mistakes. This example is from a world championship qualifier btw Bobby Fisher and Mark Taimanov, at UBC in Vancouver 1971. I was in the audience. A huge 'uh, uuuh' came from the audience when Taimanov's 46th move was posted.

 

[meadsipper]

ETA: Even chess grandmasters make sometimes strange mistakes. This example is from a world championship qualifier btw Bobby Fisher and Mark Taimanov, at UBC in Vancouver 1971. I was in the audience. A huge 'uh, uuuh' came from the audience when Taimanov's 46th move was posted.

Avid chess player myself, but I've never sat at a grandmasters' game. Bobby Fischer was an incredible player, but was also known as an intense conspiracy theorist.

 

[Kimster]

Cool your jets in here folks. Talk about the case, not each other. Leave all sarcasm at the door.

:cheers:

 

[meadsipper]

And if you never question your own beliefs, you never know your true self.

Justice is not and eye for and eye, but a decision on what we call civilized behaviour to each other, in actions, in charity for another, and putting us before I.

I truly think as human beings we have to care for each other or we are doomed.

I questioned my personal beliefs years ago, which is why I now prefer to deal strictly with facts. (BBM)

I agree with the rest.

 

[Sleuthv]

I don't believe that killing someone was the primary goal, but I don't think having to kill someone was going to get in the way of achieving the primary goal, which I think was the truck, or at least the engine that was was in the truck. And yes, although he easily could pay for the truck, I think the goal was to steal one. Maybe the thrill lied in that. If killing had been the only goal, they could have killed any number of people without having to devise such an elaborate scheme to make them vulnerable. I believe the fact that they inquired about at least three, and maybe four very similar trucks within a day or two of the murder certainly seems to validate the opinion that the truck or engine was what they were most interested in. JMO

He has stolen before.. we don't know for how long nor how many vehicles but there were stolen vehicles in HIS hanger. Tell me he didn't know they were stolen. I just think this man/kid is crossed the line.

As for sellers, he was looking for the weakest player. Suppose call #1 and #2 had issues, truck was locked in a garage over night, the victim was bigger than them or in use during the day so it could not be sleathly stolen.

With Tim he was tired it was late, he fought back or not, but the set up was all there from the farm to the trailer. What do you think they planned to do to Tim knowing he saw their faces? DM had graduated from street theft to a higher thrill. From everything I have seen or read on thieves, if they don't stop there they merge into becoming murders to feel alive.

 

[Sleuthv]

I questioned my personal beliefs years ago, which is why I now prefer to deal strictly with facts. (BBM)

I agree with the rest.

The facts still allow a little emotion to sneak in. I hope I am getting you right here, what you are trying to do is remove your emotional past when judging a situation. Because it isn't about you, it is about being in a state of ZEN. That is to be a watcher over a situation and to apply that disengaged view. That is hard. I can do it if I shut me me me off--- my EGO. And just be a viewer.

At first I like DM, then I had to say look at the facts, away from my beliefs/experience.

Thanks for discussing this as it is the only way to make a logical decision away from 'the mob like thinking'.

 

[Gibson67]

I'll have to find that picture of the wood chipper that was in the hangar, but this sounds quite a lot like the same one, same manufacturer and size based on the value of the one that was stolen from Oakville in January 2012. Serial number is likely long gone off the one in the hangar.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ville-wood-chipper/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

and here's the one in the hangar in the background of this picture... sure looks like a black chute from here anyway.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29437&d=1343747457

and here's a more traditional model paint job:

http://www.woodchuckllc.com/Chippers/03581/1.jpg

do you think the black on the wood chipper in the hanger is the custom black rubber coating along the bottom half of the wood chip chutethat was from the one from the article?

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ville-wood-chipper/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

 

[canadiangirl]

It is not as much a point of contention as it is a point of fact, sillybilly. The debate started after I expressed surprise at the investigators returning parts of the stolen Harley to the original owner instead of keeping them as evidence. This is an obvious miscue, no matter how you look at it and no matter how much you think you know about policing. Paradkar gleefully commented on
<rsbm>
I mentioned this right away as well about the evidence being returned so soon. Did Paradkar comment on this??? Do u have a link?

 

[Sleuthv]

I was wondering too, where DM and his friends had the vehicles painted. I have found on FB some of their friends do work for auto body/collision places in Brantford.

I think you did an amazing SLEUTH job here... why, okay the wood chopper; it is paint a putrid green.

Now did this shop have past orders and left over paint, or was it freshly ordered. Now look at the hanger pic with the wood chopper, there is a GMC Camaro painted cherry red and a SUV painted midnight blue, plus a third ?

If that shop ordered those exact paint colours in 2012 I would think it odd but not illegal. If the paint can be accounted for... that means I want to know how they routinely deal with excess paint and prove to me it is a long standing practice.

We know all crooks lie. So if 30 gallons of puke green are order...why, for what job, if they say the job was canceled...okay. Now cherry red paint, was ordered 1 gallon in 2012, name the customer...the same for the midnight blue SUV.

Check the paint ordered against quantities typically used to paint a single car. Hey, no smart garage owner orders just to have waste materials. I am sure the paint can be scratched to show a former colour the original car was painted.

If you are so innocent why transfer you wealth to your mother?

DETBA