I am interested in exploring the Murphy and Ethan angles. For those of you interested as well, can you spin out your scenarios from this perspective?
Currently, I am thinking about these murders from a thrill kill/stranger scenario. If I were an opportunistic killer who had scoped out this house in the past, I wouldn’t necessarily expect a dog and athletic young man to be in the house.
Here’s how the scenario might go:
I’ve been moving around the campus for some time, living out of my vehicle or a camp site. A house occupied by a number of young women has caught my attention.
I return to the house by foot or bike around 3:30am. I am prepared with a knife and gun and a back up. I am not noticed, as in this college town on a busy fall weekend, lots of young people are about. All seems quiet. I slip inside through the unlocked sliders. Still quiet.
I walk into Xana’s bedroom, where it is mostly dark, but for some electronics. There are two figures in the bed, neither moving. One appears to be a male. I approach, and with one swift movement, dispatch the male. This awakens the female, who attempts to fight me. She starts yelling, and I subdue her, but not without a fight.
A dog begins barking in another room in the house. I stand and wait, carefully listening. The two on the bed are quiet, but the dog continues to bark. I leave the room, triggering the knob lock, just to provide one more barrier between my victims and the hall.
Standing outside the room, I listen again to the dog. It is upstairs, and there is no other noise.
I walk upstairs towards the barking, carefully opening a door. The dog barks furiously. A swift kick to the dog quiets him, and I attack the two young women on the bed with my knife. They are subdued quickly, and the dog is quiet, cowering in a corner.
All is quiet again. I notice I have some injuries from the attacks, and my adrenaline is wearing off. I still have to leave the scene and so I take off, locking the bedroom door behind me.
I leave the way I came in and head back to my residence, wherever that may be.