I was able to listen to the first half of Episode 5 of the “Down the Hill” podcast and pull some of what I thought to be the main points. I will add a *** to any of the points I feel have added importance/reveal something potentially. Obviously JMO.
Robert Ives, prosecuting attorney for Carroll County until 2017 when he retired, was interviewed—
When asked what was “odd” about the crime scene, he describes it as “not your normal a ‘person was killed here’ crime scene.”
Ives also said there was a lot of physical evidence at the crime scene, but not what you would imagine.
There were at least 3 signatures at the crime scene.
Ives suspects someone local based on the fact that the bridge and trails are an unlikely place to be.
He also believes the murder is random, and SK not ruled out.
He believes it will be solved because the scene was so odd and unusual that he suspects the killer will be compelled to speak about it OR will commit another crime and confess to get fame or make some kind of deal.
Ives says he is not an expert on the investigation of serial killers.
He says there is a chance 1 or 2 things might pop up in another murder.
Explains there is only so much you can do with the still image, given that it was taken from a cell phone recording.
He says there is less additional information than people may think.***
The next interview is with Mary Ellen O’Toole, who has 20 years experience in the BAU—
Defines signature behavior at a crime scene as going over and beyond what is necessary to complete the crime. Generally it is behavior that is satisfying to the offender, and the offender will generally attempt to repeat the signature behavior, not the MO, because the signature behavior is why he is committing the crime in the first place.***
She says multiple signatures generally indicate a series of crimes. In this case, we have a double homicide—whether or not he committed other crimes unclear.
Signature can happen before, during, or after crime. An example of signature behavior before the crime would be predatory behavior.***
Hosts ask about what an “odd” crime scene might mean. MEO says that she doesn’t know what Ives definition of “odd” is, but she lists aspects of the scene that might be considered odd, such as redressing, placement of bodies, etc.
MEO explains the difference between staging and postmortem activity. Staging is when the offender makes the crime look like something it’s not in order to point investigators in a different direction. Staging tends to be done most often with a person who knows the victims. Postmortem activity is when the killer conducts postmortem activities for his own gratification.
The hosts make clear that MEO is speaking in general, not using examples from the Delphi case.***
The hosts reach out to ISP regarding the signatures, and ISP says they will not make comments about what was/was not found at crime scene.
I’ll post what I took from the last part of the episode later.
ETA: Just saw that other people have covered the rest of this episode well, so I won’t bother posting the rest of my observations.