Peter Brendt
New Member
This will be a long post and maybe, I don't know yet, I will have to split it in several posts, depending, how much text this editor can stand.
1. Preface
Profiling is more educated guessing than forensics is. Thus keep in mind, I can be so utterly wrong with the following. This isn't chiseled in stone.
I also try to word this as political correct as possible without twisting the facts. But some things are just nasty, sorry.
And on another sidenote: I treat our unsub here more or less like a serial killer of which know only one victim yet rather than a one time offender.
2. Victimology
We have just one victim, so necessarily any victimology has to be incomplete. Lonnie Jones was 12 years old, male, Caucasian. He was for his age much more independent than kids would be today. In a way, more adult, but at the same time, not as suspecting as the kids are today. Today, a lot of kids of age 12 would immediately suspect something is going down, if they see someone watching them over a period of time. Kids today are by means of media coverage and general TV and movies all to familiar with the possibility a pervert is lurking somewhere. But in 1951, things were different. Not all households had TVs at all, media coverage had still some decency. It wasn't like today, where we get like five serial killers on different stations per week, all at dinner time.
Thus, we can assume, any potential thread from a predator meant for Lonnie more something abstract. Something, he had heard of, in a very foggy way. Kids back then were told not to go with strangers, especially male strangers. But for obvious reasons, those kids were not told why or what those men would do to them. Ergo, what Lonnie and probably most kids had in their minds about the whole subject, was abstract and therefore lacked to a degree the feeling of actual threat. We can assume, the unsub, who obviously lived in this time and therefore was familiar with all of this, would know about all of that.
Lonnie was pre-puberty or very at the beginning. That places him in a development stage often referred to in cases with female victims as "nubile bracket". We don't know, whether this unsub is a repeat offender, but repeat-offenders in this age group are with a high probability so-called specific predators. Even is the unsub in this case was no repeat-offender, we can therefore assume, he had a specific taste including as one parameter the nubile-bracket as age group.
According to what ROBIN HOOD found, Lonnie was smaller than usual for his age. However, he would have shown the endurance and also the speed on the feet, that can make teenagers of that age so annoying for adults, who mostly move slower and have often already lost that never-ending energy. To mention this appears important to me for two reasons:
a.) It completes the impression, the unsub would have had of Lonnie when he chose him as victim.
b.) It indicates, it wouldn't be that easy to just snatch a boy like Lonnie, because they are fast and if you're running behind, you have to better fast as well, or they escape.
3. Crime Scene
The crime scene is a tertiary site, a dump site, and a secondary, a kill site, at the same time. Blood above on the bluff indicates, Lonnie's throat was cut there. But later, the body was found in a crouching position, knees under the stomach, the hands still in a cramped position on the back. There was a smaller blood pool under and around the body.
Noticeable is, Lonnie was still blindfolded with his own handkerchief. And the hands were STILL on the back. [compare Lewiston Morning Tribune Sept 28, 1951 ].
There is no mentioning about impact injuries, but that doesn't mean, there weren't such injuries. Investigators assumed, he was pushed or shoved down the bluff. And by all means, this bluff is about 6 ft high, it's not the Empire State Building, so impact injuries, given the youth of the victim and the flexibility of bones in that age, would be minor anyway.
But there is no way, the unsub could have pushed the dying boy down and just let him where he fell. Not on this position. The hands, if unbound, wouldn't have stuck together, so they had to be bound still, when Lonnie went down that bluff. And while it is theoretically possible, that one knee ends up under the stomach, it's highly unlikely, that both knees bent forward to end up under the stomach.
To me, that indicates, the unsub pushed or carried Lonnie down. The absence of a blood trail, indicates rather, he pushed him down. But then he went down himself and staged the body.
In this case, I have to consider this staging as part of the signature. But by all means, it appears as forming signature, not fully established yet. One has to imagine the situation: He just had killed the boy, now he looks down, to where he just had pushed him, down the bluff. It's dark, the leafs of the trees rustle, it's still warm. He looks down, but it's dark. So all he can see is a shape. It's enough, he is still on the high. The trees, the river, he can hear, to him, it must have felt like thousand little voices acknowledging him. And, even it's in the high 60s or even lower 70s, it feels cold after the warmth of the day, which would have another calming effect on him, prolonging the high even more. Especially, if this was his first kill and to a degree, he didn't expect that kind of high beforehand. For the first time in probably years, he feels one with himself and the world.
So he looks down there. And he goes without a break in a reliving mode. He climbs down and stages Lonnie in a certain position, which includes basically face down, rear up. The position in which he had the ultimate control over his victim only a short time earlier, when he had raped him.
I assume, at this time, the hands were still bound. The unsub removed the restraints there in the bluff. But here is the catch: Why didn't the arms slide down after the restraints were removed? The answer is as simple as nasty. The unsub has toyed around the body long enough, that rigor mortis was already in progress. Recognizing that factor extends the timeline for at least an hour beyond death, given the warm weather at the time.
This kill and dump site displays several features, I have seen in other cases (best known in the US are probably Corll in Texas and Bundy's dump sites in Washington State for a comparison). Dump sites of this type, also with non-clustering killers, are secondary comfort zones. Bundy for example picked Mt. Taylor because he liked the area, he had spent a lot time hiking there and in the winter season skiing on the other side of that mountain. He was comfortable there.
The combination of forest and water is not uncommon, in fact, it appears to be frequent, as far as this combination is available in an area. There are no studies about that, but based on my personal experience I would speculate, that sound and the feeling of vastness plays a role there into psychopathic or sociopathic mindsets. In a night like the one, in which Lonnie was killed, light wind, darkness, this effect would be most likely amplified. Thus, in my opinion, this site wasn't chosen by accident. It is maybe the only site of that kind along that road, but since the unsub had a car, he could have driven a little further, maybe change the road, find a more secluded space, he had the choice. But he went to this place. This indicates, this site is part of a secondary comfort zone.
To handle also the subject of an offender, who just picked him up, take another look at the scene and the details. The unsub had to have restraints and the knife at hand when he grabbed Lonnie. This dismisses any ideas of he met his victim by accident. He had all he needed in his car. This guy was hunting. And he wasn't hunting on a lone highway where only once a week a potential victim would come by and that probably at a time, he couldn't strike. The remoteness of the crime scene points out, it was rather a pre-selected kill-site than near to the unsub's hunting ground. Therefore, I think, this unsub followed his victim in fact from the fair or knew, where he would find him later.
4. Time Gap I
There are two time gaps in the timeline, as discussed earlier. One, the later one, is the time, in which Lonnie was killed. The first one however appears to me as the time in which the killer laid eyes on his victim and made a choice.
Looking at this timeline, there are some factors of uncertainty. We know, this gap ended about 12:30, when Bob Hill and Leroy Kidder picked him up. Hill and Kidder appear to have been at this time in the company of two girls of whom we hear later nothing anymore. However, this could be to protect their identities, because girls hanging out all nigh with boys in 1951 - that could have hurt someone's feelings!
In fact, all four don't confirm they picked Lonnie up at exact 12:30. According to the newspaper articles, it was rather midnight. Still, they arrived, according to their own testimonies at home in Greer only at 1 o'clock. So basically, they must have met him before 12:30, rather near to 12:00. Or my Google, giving me the distance with ab. 55 miles is wrong. Or they had a car, that could make between 110 and 120 mph on that road ...
Even harder are things, when it comes to estimate when this gap began. I assumed, since the food places at the fair would have closed at 10:30, that this would be the time, he had his last meal. But when Lonnie met his grandma on the fair, he also mentioned, he would go to the movies. Remember, nobody saw Lonnie later at the fair anymore. So there is some probability, he actually went to the movies. Only, in this case, he would have eaten that burger before he went in to the cinema and, and given, most cinemas back in the day were near burger joints or included those, this would be the place to ask around, not the fair. Only, back in the days, probably nobody thought about that.
The movie would end about 10:00, but depending how far that was from Orofino Bridge, Lonnie would have more or less time needed to go there. So the time gap would be 1 1/2 hours rather than 2 1/2, as originally assumed. Even more, it contradicts the estimations of the ME a little, who guessed, by the state of digestion of said burger, that Lonnies was probably killed three to four hours after he ate. Assuming, he went to the movies, he would have eaten that burger between 8:00 and 8:30. Four hours later, that would place the TOD to about 12:00, latest 12:30. But at this time, Lonnie was still in the car with Bob Hill and Leroy Kidder. So if one or both of them fit the profile, we have here definitively two potentials.
... continuing with pt2 (before this program tells me, write it again ...)
1. Preface
Profiling is more educated guessing than forensics is. Thus keep in mind, I can be so utterly wrong with the following. This isn't chiseled in stone.
I also try to word this as political correct as possible without twisting the facts. But some things are just nasty, sorry.
And on another sidenote: I treat our unsub here more or less like a serial killer of which know only one victim yet rather than a one time offender.
2. Victimology
We have just one victim, so necessarily any victimology has to be incomplete. Lonnie Jones was 12 years old, male, Caucasian. He was for his age much more independent than kids would be today. In a way, more adult, but at the same time, not as suspecting as the kids are today. Today, a lot of kids of age 12 would immediately suspect something is going down, if they see someone watching them over a period of time. Kids today are by means of media coverage and general TV and movies all to familiar with the possibility a pervert is lurking somewhere. But in 1951, things were different. Not all households had TVs at all, media coverage had still some decency. It wasn't like today, where we get like five serial killers on different stations per week, all at dinner time.
Thus, we can assume, any potential thread from a predator meant for Lonnie more something abstract. Something, he had heard of, in a very foggy way. Kids back then were told not to go with strangers, especially male strangers. But for obvious reasons, those kids were not told why or what those men would do to them. Ergo, what Lonnie and probably most kids had in their minds about the whole subject, was abstract and therefore lacked to a degree the feeling of actual threat. We can assume, the unsub, who obviously lived in this time and therefore was familiar with all of this, would know about all of that.
Lonnie was pre-puberty or very at the beginning. That places him in a development stage often referred to in cases with female victims as "nubile bracket". We don't know, whether this unsub is a repeat offender, but repeat-offenders in this age group are with a high probability so-called specific predators. Even is the unsub in this case was no repeat-offender, we can therefore assume, he had a specific taste including as one parameter the nubile-bracket as age group.
According to what ROBIN HOOD found, Lonnie was smaller than usual for his age. However, he would have shown the endurance and also the speed on the feet, that can make teenagers of that age so annoying for adults, who mostly move slower and have often already lost that never-ending energy. To mention this appears important to me for two reasons:
a.) It completes the impression, the unsub would have had of Lonnie when he chose him as victim.
b.) It indicates, it wouldn't be that easy to just snatch a boy like Lonnie, because they are fast and if you're running behind, you have to better fast as well, or they escape.
3. Crime Scene
The crime scene is a tertiary site, a dump site, and a secondary, a kill site, at the same time. Blood above on the bluff indicates, Lonnie's throat was cut there. But later, the body was found in a crouching position, knees under the stomach, the hands still in a cramped position on the back. There was a smaller blood pool under and around the body.
Noticeable is, Lonnie was still blindfolded with his own handkerchief. And the hands were STILL on the back. [compare Lewiston Morning Tribune Sept 28, 1951 ].
There is no mentioning about impact injuries, but that doesn't mean, there weren't such injuries. Investigators assumed, he was pushed or shoved down the bluff. And by all means, this bluff is about 6 ft high, it's not the Empire State Building, so impact injuries, given the youth of the victim and the flexibility of bones in that age, would be minor anyway.
But there is no way, the unsub could have pushed the dying boy down and just let him where he fell. Not on this position. The hands, if unbound, wouldn't have stuck together, so they had to be bound still, when Lonnie went down that bluff. And while it is theoretically possible, that one knee ends up under the stomach, it's highly unlikely, that both knees bent forward to end up under the stomach.
To me, that indicates, the unsub pushed or carried Lonnie down. The absence of a blood trail, indicates rather, he pushed him down. But then he went down himself and staged the body.
In this case, I have to consider this staging as part of the signature. But by all means, it appears as forming signature, not fully established yet. One has to imagine the situation: He just had killed the boy, now he looks down, to where he just had pushed him, down the bluff. It's dark, the leafs of the trees rustle, it's still warm. He looks down, but it's dark. So all he can see is a shape. It's enough, he is still on the high. The trees, the river, he can hear, to him, it must have felt like thousand little voices acknowledging him. And, even it's in the high 60s or even lower 70s, it feels cold after the warmth of the day, which would have another calming effect on him, prolonging the high even more. Especially, if this was his first kill and to a degree, he didn't expect that kind of high beforehand. For the first time in probably years, he feels one with himself and the world.
So he looks down there. And he goes without a break in a reliving mode. He climbs down and stages Lonnie in a certain position, which includes basically face down, rear up. The position in which he had the ultimate control over his victim only a short time earlier, when he had raped him.
I assume, at this time, the hands were still bound. The unsub removed the restraints there in the bluff. But here is the catch: Why didn't the arms slide down after the restraints were removed? The answer is as simple as nasty. The unsub has toyed around the body long enough, that rigor mortis was already in progress. Recognizing that factor extends the timeline for at least an hour beyond death, given the warm weather at the time.
This kill and dump site displays several features, I have seen in other cases (best known in the US are probably Corll in Texas and Bundy's dump sites in Washington State for a comparison). Dump sites of this type, also with non-clustering killers, are secondary comfort zones. Bundy for example picked Mt. Taylor because he liked the area, he had spent a lot time hiking there and in the winter season skiing on the other side of that mountain. He was comfortable there.
The combination of forest and water is not uncommon, in fact, it appears to be frequent, as far as this combination is available in an area. There are no studies about that, but based on my personal experience I would speculate, that sound and the feeling of vastness plays a role there into psychopathic or sociopathic mindsets. In a night like the one, in which Lonnie was killed, light wind, darkness, this effect would be most likely amplified. Thus, in my opinion, this site wasn't chosen by accident. It is maybe the only site of that kind along that road, but since the unsub had a car, he could have driven a little further, maybe change the road, find a more secluded space, he had the choice. But he went to this place. This indicates, this site is part of a secondary comfort zone.
To handle also the subject of an offender, who just picked him up, take another look at the scene and the details. The unsub had to have restraints and the knife at hand when he grabbed Lonnie. This dismisses any ideas of he met his victim by accident. He had all he needed in his car. This guy was hunting. And he wasn't hunting on a lone highway where only once a week a potential victim would come by and that probably at a time, he couldn't strike. The remoteness of the crime scene points out, it was rather a pre-selected kill-site than near to the unsub's hunting ground. Therefore, I think, this unsub followed his victim in fact from the fair or knew, where he would find him later.
4. Time Gap I
There are two time gaps in the timeline, as discussed earlier. One, the later one, is the time, in which Lonnie was killed. The first one however appears to me as the time in which the killer laid eyes on his victim and made a choice.
Looking at this timeline, there are some factors of uncertainty. We know, this gap ended about 12:30, when Bob Hill and Leroy Kidder picked him up. Hill and Kidder appear to have been at this time in the company of two girls of whom we hear later nothing anymore. However, this could be to protect their identities, because girls hanging out all nigh with boys in 1951 - that could have hurt someone's feelings!
In fact, all four don't confirm they picked Lonnie up at exact 12:30. According to the newspaper articles, it was rather midnight. Still, they arrived, according to their own testimonies at home in Greer only at 1 o'clock. So basically, they must have met him before 12:30, rather near to 12:00. Or my Google, giving me the distance with ab. 55 miles is wrong. Or they had a car, that could make between 110 and 120 mph on that road ...
Even harder are things, when it comes to estimate when this gap began. I assumed, since the food places at the fair would have closed at 10:30, that this would be the time, he had his last meal. But when Lonnie met his grandma on the fair, he also mentioned, he would go to the movies. Remember, nobody saw Lonnie later at the fair anymore. So there is some probability, he actually went to the movies. Only, in this case, he would have eaten that burger before he went in to the cinema and, and given, most cinemas back in the day were near burger joints or included those, this would be the place to ask around, not the fair. Only, back in the days, probably nobody thought about that.
The movie would end about 10:00, but depending how far that was from Orofino Bridge, Lonnie would have more or less time needed to go there. So the time gap would be 1 1/2 hours rather than 2 1/2, as originally assumed. Even more, it contradicts the estimations of the ME a little, who guessed, by the state of digestion of said burger, that Lonnies was probably killed three to four hours after he ate. Assuming, he went to the movies, he would have eaten that burger between 8:00 and 8:30. Four hours later, that would place the TOD to about 12:00, latest 12:30. But at this time, Lonnie was still in the car with Bob Hill and Leroy Kidder. So if one or both of them fit the profile, we have here definitively two potentials.
... continuing with pt2 (before this program tells me, write it again ...)
