GUILTY HI - Carly Joann 'Charli' Scott, 27, pregnant, Makawao, 9 Feb 2014 - #6

[Kapua]

Does anyone know what happened to Steven's grandmother, Frances? I know she was ill and living at the Kalipo home, but the home has been sold and his step-grandfather moved to the mainland. Did Steven's grandmother pass away, still on the island, or moved to the mainland with Carlos Young...?

The last I heard, she was sitting with SC's aunt in court.. This was according to one of our WS posters - was it Nikki?

 

[Kapua]

Taylor and Cass didn't need SC either. Charli seems to have been more head over heels for Steven than those two (judging by how quickly Taylor & Cass both moved on) and yet he was not able to get her to terminate the pregnancy. Taylor & Cass are young but they ARE autonomous - we're talking about adults here who both have protective family on the island. Just because he'd try to persuade doesn't mean he'd be successful.

You'd think someone so obsessed with not having a baby would be very conscientious about using condoms. :facepalm:

Taylor needed him for the Molly, but otherwise, not so much. His mojo worked best on Charli and Cass.

 

[PeterTosh]

Taylor needed him for the Molly, but otherwise, not so much. His mojo worked best on Charli and Cass.

Cass had a real struggle with it. I think her Aunt finally was able to get through to her. Or she was over it but was just loving the attention she was getting everybody telling her to get over him as she was feeling sorry for herself.

 

[Moxie_McTavish]

The last I heard, she was sitting with SC's aunt in court.. This was according to one of our WS posters - was it Nikki?

Sounds like her marriage to Carlos may have ended then. And considering that Carlos was testifying against SC, I would suspect the issue of SC's potential involvement in the crime may have divided them.

 

[PeterTosh]

I think Cass and Taylor could not be more different. The only thing they had in common was Steven Capobianco. One cool calm and collected and knowledgeable about self and the other flighty, not grounded and still seeking identity.

 

[Moxie_McTavish]

I've been reviewing the testimony of Kyle Knight & Officer Taylor this afternoon. I've altered my own timeline of what happened to Charli to reflect some details they provided. Here is what I believe happened. I welcome any comments:


Charli drives close to SC's house & texts that she's there around 8:30. He goes out to meet her just down the road (according to his interview story). He gets into the passenger side, then overpowers & restrains/gags her, then commandeers her vehicle & drives to Paraquats w/ Nala in the back. He leaves Nala in the vehicle, and walks her forcefully through the jungle using his cell phone flashlight to the crime scene not far from the stream, where he grabs her in the dark and stabs her all over with a knife focusing on the belly & chest area. He likely decapitated her at this time with the same knife - again, in darkness or near-darkness which explains the "false starts" of the jaw incisions where he tried to saw her head off without the ability to see what he was doing. He leaves her remains there, fully clothed, and also disposes of some random items that were in her 4-Runner, such as the blanket. He drops Nala at Nahiku, and drives the back way around the island just to decompress or because he was paranoid about going back the way he'd come. He burns the vehicle that night at Jaws, then meets up with Taylor Farner to supply drugs (and a semi-alibi), then Skypes with Cassie.

He returned to the crime scene each day thereafter just to make sure everything was as he'd left it, and he may have shifted or moved the body, and we know that he covered over the top of the remains with the blanket, which accounts for a break in fly-egg-laying. This covering with the blanket also explains the decomposition fumes which floated upward, infusing the blanket; these fumes also were blown the short distance up to the highway. In Steven's mind, Paraquats was where he was leaving her for good where no one would find her; there was no plan to remove the body. On Tuesday, he went back and tried to call her phone repeatedly, and he may have found it and destroyed it.

On Wednesday afternoon while they were all searching, Kyle Knight freaks Steven out by mentioning to him repeatedly - both one-on-one and in front of a whole group - that he smelled a rotting smell on Hana Hwy in the area of Paraquats. Steven protests that he's already checked that area and there's nothing to see. Despite being covered with the blanket, the remains - which are only about 150 feet downstream from the highway - are beginning to attract attention due to the smell.

So late on Wednesday night, after focus had shifted to Jaws where her vehicle is found, Steven went back to Paraquats. He rolled her remains onto the blanket and dragged the remains down into a dry area of the streambed, her right hand dragging along the ground and losing its fingernails due to skin slippage. This is why the officer testified that the right fingernails were found in an east to west line. The tongue piercing and pieces of jawbone may have also gotten knocked off the blanket at this time of dragging, or else they were deposited on Sunday night during the attack & decapitation. This dragging to the streambed and being knocked about is how the maggots got transferred onto the blanket when he rolled her off it. He left the blanket cast aside on the bank of the stream. He then removed her clothes because any cloth would be a hindrance to dismemberment, and they fell into a puddle in the streambed which helped to remove encrusted blood and the smell of rot. He dismembered her remains with an axe in a dry area of the streambed. This explains why the dog snorkelled under the stream water there and why the blanket was at the streambed with maggots on it, smelling of rot. He was hacking hard with an axe to cut the body into manageable parts, just in order to facilitate removal from the site. This was NOT part of his original plan. This removal was something he felt he had to do because Kyle Knight was commenting on the smell in that area. And for Steven, the discovery of the remains would have been the difference between life in prison vs. freedom.

He worked on the body in the dry streambed and taped the remains up inside several bags for transport. He took everything back to his vehicle in multiple trips. He fished the clothes out of the water as an afterthought and took them a ways toward the car but then just wadded them up and cast them aside in the jungle because the bags of body parts were already sealed up and he didn't want to have any items of Charli's sitting loosely in his vehicle. He was too exhausted to care much about leaving random things like the clothes and DVD and blanket, so he just left them at the scene - he was there ONLY to remove the source of the smell that was causing attention: the body. He felt that when he got THAT out of there, no one would have any reason to be drawn to Paraquats anymore.

He drove her remains south of Hana and disposed of them, either emptying the bags into the ocean, burying them, or leaving them in a remote place. A clump of her hair, loosened by skin slippage resulting from decomposition, clung to Steven's shoe (or something else) and managed to escape and blow around the general area for some time. After final disposal, Steven goes home exhausted.

The next evening, Phaedra, Max, and Molly discover the clothes & DVD in the jungle and the blanket with live maggots at the streambed where the remains were dragged & dismembered the previous night. The stream is running higher now, submerging part of the blanket and submerging the exact area of dismemberment in the streambed (where Pohaku would "snorkel).

A few days later on the 16th, a searcher will discover the clump of hair on the fence of the cow pasturage at Hana Ranch: it'd had several days to blow in the wind to Hana Ranch where it got snagged on the barbed wire fence, to be plucked by the hand of a searcher, one of Charli's own relatives.

Some things might be a bit off - like when the clothes were removed, etc - but from what I can tell, this seems likely in its overall outline. Sorry for the uber-long post and the morbid subject matter. It's really depressing to think about. :-(

 

[Nikki Lisette]

I really hope there are no witnesses participating in this discussion on Websleuths. That would be an obstruction of justice and seen as an attempt at a mistrial. I am very suspect of one the posters on the Capobianco thread and I want to let him/her know that their identity is crystal clear. I don't care if I am banned from Websleuths. I don't want there to be a mistrial.

 

[puakenikeni]

Agree (if true). A mistrial would be tragic.
Nikki, what is the Capobianco thread? I think of this as the Charli Scott thread #6. Is there some other thread named after SC?

 

[puakenikeni]

I've been reviewing the testimony of Kyle Knight & Officer Taylor this afternoon. I've altered my own timeline of what happened to Charli to reflect some details they provided. Here is what I believe happened. I welcome any comments:


Charli drives close to SC's house & texts that she's there around 8:30. He goes out to meet her just down the road (according to his interview story). He gets into the passenger side, then overpowers & restrains/gags her, then commandeers her vehicle & drives to Paraquats w/ Nala in the back. He leaves Nala in the vehicle, and walks her forcefully through the jungle using his cell phone flashlight to the crime scene not far from the stream, where he grabs her in the dark and stabs her all over with a knife focusing on the belly & chest area. He likely decapitated her at this time with the same knife - again, in darkness or near-darkness which explains the "false starts" of the jaw incisions where he tried to saw her head off without the ability to see what he was doing. He leaves her remains there, fully clothed, and also disposes of some random items that were in her 4-Runner, such as the blanket. He drops Nala at Nahiku, and drives the back way around the island just to decompress or because he was paranoid about going back the way he'd come. He burns the vehicle that night at Jaws, then meets up with Taylor Farner to supply drugs (and a semi-alibi), then Skypes with Cassie.

He returned to the crime scene each day thereafter just to make sure everything was as he'd left it, and he may have shifted or moved the body, and we know that he covered over the top of the remains with the blanket, which accounts for a break in fly-egg-laying. This covering with the blanket also explains the decomposition fumes which floated upward, infusing the blanket; these fumes also were blown the short distance up to the highway. In Steven's mind, Paraquats was where he was leaving her for good where no one would find her; there was no plan to remove the body. On Tuesday, he went back and tried to call her phone repeatedly, and he may have found it and destroyed it.

On Wednesday afternoon while they were all searching, Kyle Knight freaks Steven out by mentioning to him repeatedly - both one-on-one and in front of a whole group - that he smelled a rotting smell on Hana Hwy in the area of Paraquats. Steven protests that he's already checked that area and there's nothing to see. Despite being covered with the blanket, the remains - which are only about 150 feet downstream from the highway - are beginning to attract attention due to the smell.

So late on Wednesday night, after focus had shifted to Jaws where her vehicle is found, Steven went back to Paraquats. He rolled her remains onto the blanket and dragged the remains down into a dry area of the streambed, her right hand dragging along the ground and losing its fingernails due to skin slippage. This is why the officer testified that the right fingernails were found in an east to west line. The tongue piercing and pieces of jawbone may have also gotten knocked off the blanket at this time of dragging, or else they were deposited on Sunday night during the attack & decapitation. This dragging to the streambed and being knocked about is how the maggots got transferred onto the blanket when he rolled her off it. He left the blanket cast aside on the bank of the stream. He then removed her clothes because any cloth would be a hindrance to dismemberment, and they fell into a puddle in the streambed which helped to remove encrusted blood and the smell of rot. He dismembered her remains with an axe in a dry area of the streambed. This explains why the dog snorkelled under the stream water there and why the blanket was at the streambed with maggots on it, smelling of rot. He was hacking hard with an axe to cut the body into manageable parts, just in order to facilitate removal from the site. This was NOT part of his original plan. This removal was something he felt he had to do because Kyle Knight was commenting on the smell in that area. And for Steven, the discovery of the remains would have been the difference between life in prison vs. freedom.

He worked on the body in the dry streambed and taped the remains up inside several bags for transport. He took everything back to his vehicle in multiple trips. He fished the clothes out of the water as an afterthought and took them a ways toward the car but then just wadded them up and cast them aside in the jungle because the bags of body parts were already sealed up and he didn't want to have any items of Charli's sitting loosely in his vehicle. He was too exhausted to care much about leaving random things like the clothes and DVD and blanket, so he just left them at the scene - he was there ONLY to remove the source of the smell that was causing attention: the body. He felt that when he got THAT out of there, no one would have any reason to be drawn to Paraquats anymore.

He drove her remains south of Hana and disposed of them, either emptying the bags into the ocean, burying them, or leaving them in a remote place. A clump of her hair, loosened by skin slippage resulting from decomposition, clung to Steven's shoe (or something else) and managed to escape and blow around the general area for some time. After final disposal, Steven goes home exhausted.

The next evening, Phaedra, Max, and Molly discover the clothes & DVD in the jungle and the blanket with live maggots at the streambed where the remains were dragged & dismembered the previous night. The stream is running higher now, submerging part of the blanket and submerging the exact area of dismemberment in the streambed (where Pohaku would "snorkel).

A few days later on the 16th, a searcher will discover the clump of hair on the fence of the cow pasturage at Hana Ranch: it'd had several days to blow in the wind to Hana Ranch where it got snagged on the barbed wire fence, to be plucked by the hand of a searcher, one of Charli's own relatives.

Some things might be a bit off - like when the clothes were removed, etc - but from what I can tell, this seems likely in its overall outline. Sorry for the uber-long post and the morbid subject matter. It's really depressing to think about. :-(

Moxie, I think this theory is really well constructed, and I am a tough nut to get to agree.
The part that is really new here is the idea that SC reacted to Kyle's comments instead of having a plan from the beginning. SC appears to have had time on Wed. night when he was unaccounted for.

One thing you did not mention is that Kyle called Steven and asked where he was when everyone had gotten to Jaws and discovered the arson crime scene. That phone call's location pings and times could be key, if SC never went back to Haiku until much later. (Does Kyle have Verizon?)

We do know that Steven considered Paraquat's super remote. He was born on the island and had never been there up to a short while before when a friend (Ginseng?) turned him onto it. The road itself is a muddy track, and there is no reason to go into the jungle. He may have been thinking that wild pigs would take care of the evidence, jungle nature.

The theory accounts for him planning to do this (which I believe), but not having an elaborate plan for afterwards, which seems to have been the case. The theory works with the forensic testimony. There's nothing in it that is too complicated.

My quibbles would be:
I don't think the clothes would have recovered from the smell after being dropped in a puddle, had they been on her for three days. I think the clothes were removed soon, possibly to expose her more to wild pigs and elements and insects.

I think there was some substantial part of dismemberment done by the rock and tree, where the tree was cut and gashed. I agree that the jawbone fell away and was missed.

I am not sure about dragging her to the stream, as no drag marks were seen the next day or after. There is testimony about how far the separation was, wish I could point to the exact cue up or even the day.

I think the explanation of snorkeling dog is rather brilliant, and the accounting for the fingernails. And the hair south of Hana. Also there was a lot of hair in the little clearing with the tree that perhaps had "slippage." I don't remember there being any near the stream, or anything found by the stream other than clothing and tape rolls.

I don't think there is ever a "dry" streambed area in February, not right at the stream. That sort of jungle stays dank and damp. Think it would always be muddy. But muddy still works, not immersed at the time. That is a good idea that material was able to go into the soil, because just dropping something in a stream would not make a smell stick IMO.

He was most likely out there Tuesday night after it became Wed. morning, and there was more fly contact at sunrise time Wed..
As an alternate related theory:
It is possible that TUESDAY at dusk he became freaked out by his close call with Brooke and Phaedra right there in the vicinity. It is possible that it floated back to him on the grapevine that Phaedra had a ping she wanted to pursue. At that point he would see that these searchers are really covering the area in a way he never would have thought possible, so he might go back Tuesday and begin dismembering, in the clearing.

If he did that, and only had a blanket, the decomp smell may have kicked into high gear, thus drawing attention on Wednesday.
At this point he realizes that small pieces is not enough. He has to remove the remains.

It's not pleasant at all to think about.

 

[PeterTosh]

I really hope there are no witnesses participating in this discussion on Websleuths. That would be an obstruction of justice and seen as an attempt at a mistrial. I am very suspect of one the posters on the Capobianco thread and I want to let him/her know that their identity is crystal clear. I don't care if I am banned from Websleuths. I don't want there to be a mistrial.

Yeah if you are a witness do the Pono thing and bow out until this is over. One doesn't need to burden themselves in life with the guilt of a mistrial.

 

[puakenikeni]

Not I ....

 

[Kapua]

Sounds like her marriage to Carlos may have ended then. And considering that Carlos was testifying against SC, I would suspect the issue of SC's potential involvement in the crime may have divided them.

A few hundred posts ago, someone posted that there had been a lot of break-ups and divorces among the family, friends, and witnesses in this case over the past 2 years. Sad.

Carlos didn't have a choice as to whether or not he'd testify, but he did have a choice between lying and not lying and he made the correct choice. I had been curious about him because SC had told Det. Loo, "my grandfather will tell you that I was home by 11". I wish we could have heard his complete testimony.

All I can say is that I don't think Carlos moved to New England for the fall colors.

 

[Nikki Lisette]

Agree (if true). A mistrial would be tragic.
Nikki, what is the Capobianco thread? I think of this as the Charli Scott thread #6. Is there some other thread named after SC?

Nope. But it's his murder trial. And both youtube and Akaku have the videos labeled as Capobianco murder trial. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Napili]

Thank you, Nikki Lisette.

I hope whoever the jurist is, after excusing her/himself, will come forward here.

 

[Mamamerced]

Napili, it's not a jurist. Suspicions by a few are that it may be a witness.

 

[Napili]

Oops! Should have reread the post. Thanks MM! Serious either way.

 

[Moxie_McTavish]

Moxie, I think this theory is really well constructed, and I am a tough nut to get to agree.
The part that is really new here is the idea that SC reacted to Kyle's comments instead of having a plan from the beginning. SC appears to have had time on Wed. night when he was unaccounted for.........

Thank you, Puakenikeni, for taking the time to carefully read my loooong post, I appreciate it. Your comments are very helpful. I'd like to address some points, and any more comments are most welcome from you or anyone else.

I could be wrong, but for me something "clicked when I read about Kyle Knight commenting to SC about the smell at Paraquats and Steven attempting to shut it down. And then the next day, the body was gone. I feel that this attention that was being drawn to Paraquats because of the rotting stench might've been the kick in the pants he needed to modify his plan of leaving her at that remote spot, and to go and remove the body (which, unfortunately, was facilitated by dismemberment).

Drag marks: I am not aware of any drag marks at the site, but I'm also not familiar enough with that spot to know if we should even expect to see them. I do know that the bottom, smooth part of the blanket was more stained than the top/corduroy part, so I'm not sure it would have left any highly suggestive marks in the ground because it's so smooth. The blanket had tears/cuts which to me might indicate snagging from dragging something heavy across protruding roots, rocks, and branches, and a part of the blanket is deeply stained, which may be indicative of dragging a load on it.

Weapon: I think Loo said machete based on the cuts in the tree, but the tools that are capable of making clean cuts like we see on the piece of long bone would be a saw, which I've ruled out due to both the noise factor & time factor, and an axe. I suggest that he had a small serated knife on Sunday to murder with, and an axe later on to dismember with.

Regarding the cuts in the tree at the murder site, there were red hairs in those cuts. We know based on the finds around the tree that that area was the murder site of Sunday night, and that that's where she remained for days after the murder until he removed the remains. I suggest that some of her hair was wrapped around/tangled around the lower part of the tree so he took the axe he'd brought to dismember with and wacked the trunk a couple times to free her hair so he could move the remains to the streambed. The thing is, we don't find any blood, muscle, fat, viscera, etc. in this area by the tree and there's no evidence in the ground for any hack marks, which one would expect to find if she was dismembered in that area. That reason, along with the maggot-blanket being at the stream and the cadaver dog snorkeling underwater there, is why I believe she was moved to & dismembered in the stream-bed. When I said "dry streambed," I misspoke: I perceive the stream as running low that night so part of the streambed would have had just shallow puddles, lots of damp rocks, and some mud.

If SC had used that tree with the cuts to brace her against for dismemberment, they would have found blood and gore on the tree trunk IMO.

Clothing removal: We know that the clothing remained on Charli when she was attacked on Sunday night because it's full of holes. The thing that makes the most sense to me is that the clothing was removed to facilitate dismemberment at a later time, however I don't think the clothes were permeated with the rotting smell like the blanket was (or maybe just a little bit rotten smelling? anyone remember?) so they might have been removed early on. But why? Could there have been necrophilia involved, or...? You're right, Puakenikeni, that he did not take the clothes off at the streambed though because the slashed bra was found in the mud near the murder site/cut tree, so that is where he removed the clothes. In my theory, he removed them right before he put the remains on the blanket and dragged her the short distance to the streambed." He had bags, tape rolls, and an axe, and the tape rolls and blanket were found at the side of the stream.

I'm doubtful that he removed them (or cut her up into small bits) specifically for wild pigs to devour because we know that at a certain point after the murder, he covered her remains with a blanket, which is not consistent IMO with wanting pigs to devour the remains. I could use a refresher about the smell, if any, that were on the clothes.

Dismemberment: From what we know of Steven's movements with the cell phone data, there was simply no time for him to dismember a body on Sunday night. He may have decapitated Charli's head, or at least done a lot of sawing at the neck area in order to ensure blood loss/death, on Sunday night in his fast & frenzied attack on her. But he could not have done a full dismembering IMO. Also, by dismembering, I don't necessarily mean he chopped her into small pieces. I think he chopped her into manageable pieces that he could carry out in trash bags. The little piece of long bone (where exactly was this found?) would have come from a double hack while trying to remove a leg: he hacked once, and then his second hack accidentally landed a 2-3 inches above the first hack, which cut the bone in two different places. He was cutting her into large pieces, and that's why the small piece of bone was overlooked IMO.

Phone ping: I don't think he knew about Phaedra's phone ping because if he knew Charli's family would be snooping around Nua'ailua to locate the phone ping, he would've collected ALL of the items. He left so many items behind because he saw no reason anyone would be drawn to that area anymore now that the stinking body was gone. His reason for removing the body was not because he thought it was inevitable that people would come to the site. He removed it specifically to keep people from ever coming to the site, because in his mind it was only the stench that was attracting attention to that place.

Eeek, this post is so long. I just start typing and can't stop! Sorry. :-/

 

[Moxie_McTavish]

A few hundred posts ago, someone posted that there had been a lot of break-ups and divorces among the family, friends, and witnesses in this case over the past 2 years. Sad.

Murders and suicides send shockwaves through families and communities that cause all sorts of deep turmoil. It really shakes people to their core and overturns the apple cart in all sorts of unforseeable ways: reshuffling relationships, turning people against each other, causing depression, disagreements among family members & neighbors who were once close. It's just horrible.

 

[Mamamerced]

Oops! Should have reread the post. Thanks MM! Serious either way.

Only if true.

 

[Maisiebelle]

I don't know whats happening but I would just like to point out I am in the UK so im not a mole. I haven't posted for a while anyway because I can't seem to find any trial videos to watch.....