NC - Kathy Taft, 62, Raleigh, 6 March 2010 - #2

[Just the Fax]

So we know HT closed at 11:00pm and the Durango was in the parking lot w/engine running at 6:00am. The car could keep running for 7 hrs?

.5gph @idle is a rough estimate.

3-4 gallons?

 

[diphi]

"Holton, who was present at the time of the search, told police she locked her keys in the SUV and left her car at a Harris Teeter a block from Cartier Drive.
A store manager told WRAL News that he saw the Durango was unoccupied with the engine running in the parking lot when he arrived for work at 6 a.m. on March 6."

OMG, this is the oddest piece of news I have heard yet.
It is not possible to lock the doors with key in the ignition.At least every car I know of....Durango?

Sounds more and more like D was drunk that night.

Yes, it is possible; I've done it. It was an older model station wagon and as soon as the door was opened from the inside it automatically locked. I quickly got out of the car and closed the door not realizing the key was still in the ignition and the door was locked. It was not my car and I didn't realize it had an automatic lock like that.

Durango? IDK.

 

[Just the Fax]

Yes, it is possible; I've done it. It was an older model station wagon and as soon as the door was opened from the inside it automatically locked. I quickly got out of the car and closed the door not realizing the key was still in the ignition and the door was locked. It was not my car and I didn't realize it had an automatic lock like that.

Durango? IDK.

But the car was not still running, right?

Found a Durango board that said this......

"To those that have locked their keys in their trucks with keyless entry...how did you lock the door with it running? Doors wont lock if its running, unless you lock it by hand"

Now I know she was drunk.

 

[SuziQ]

I don't have a Dodge. But I would have to use a second set of keys to lock a set of keys in my car. I can only lock it by hand with a key on the outside. Does that make sense? lol.

 

[SuziQ]

I remember a door lock scenario in another case. It tripped the perps story up. The door locking could not have happened the way they said it did.

 

[diphi]

I found this web site about Durango lock problems. Apparently, doors that lock themselves was an issue with Durango.

http://www.fixya.com/cars/t593404-dodge_durango_automatic_door_lock

Still, a running locked vehicle at 6 am is quite hard to explain...DH must have gotten the vehicle between 6 am and 9:30 am?

 

[Just the Fax]

For those few that still suspect D....consider this:
Why would she call 911 with Kathy obviously still alive?
She was clinging to life and it would be very easy to stop that quickly.
No, D had nothing to do with the sexual or physical assault.
However, was she derelict in her duties as nurse maid....quite possible,indeed.

 

[cluciano63]

All this new info to digest and so many new questions we thought there were a lot of questions before...now there are even more

 

[Starry Night]

I wonder if Sissy was in a blackout......I mean-drinking on the sly with KT sick...trips to the store....locking the keys inside. So what time did she lock the keys inside-I guess I wonder how she stumbled home in the dark through the wooded area-or did she accept the offer of a ride from someone-and did she meet someone at the bar and grille? Very intriguing. How does she remember going to bed at 3 am,,and yes, why be up at 3 am. She sounded rather addled in the phone call to 911 (naturally). But what I mean is more 'addled' than 'panicky' until EMS showed up. At one point during the 911 call she stated that she was 'busy' or 'dizzy'....Busy doing what?

 

[crocus]

Does this seem strange......the HT manager stated the car was running....

A store manager told WRAL News that he saw the Durango was unoccupied with the engine running in the parking lot when he arrived for work at 6 a.m. on March 6.

Well.....wow. Definitely puts another twist in this story. Could she have "forgotten" that she left her vehicle at HT locked and running?

The search warrant had 2 beer bottles on the list of things taken from the house. Were there more in the fridge unopened? Any more empties in the garbage? Did one, or maybe both, of the HT receipts have a beer purchase on it?

 

[ruben321]

what do you make of the hospital 911 call.....family members told emergency room staff K had been raped. How would the family know that? Usually the medical staff would tell the family that.

 

[Prancy]

One day this week I called HT at the GV location and the automatic system that gives their store hours, said they were open 24 hours a day. Maybe that is no longer correct. I went to the one on Oberlin Road (Cameron Village) today and an employee told me he thought the one at GV closed at 10:00. Do we know for sure which is correct?

If D went to the HT to get more beer or wine, where were the bottles? SW says they seized 2 beer bottles. That's nothing for a heavy drinker. If she was really drinking she would have had a large bottle of liquor, a 12 pack of beer or a large bottle of wine. Any chance they took a photo of it and didn't take it with them?

In the tape didn't D say something about having gone outside or stepped outside? I'll have to listen again. It's just so upsetting I really dread it.

 

[crocus]

I sure would like to hear the explanation she gave to LE as to why her car was still at HT running at 6am. Sure, she locked the keys in the car, but why didn't she contact LE or another source for help to get into it soon after it happened because it WAS STILL RUNNING.

 

[crocus]

what do you make of the hospital 911 call.....family members told emergency room staff K had been raped. How would the family know that? Usually the medical staff would tell the family that.

Didn't the caller on that 2nd 911 call say something about appearance of sexual assault and said a family member may have seen someone they didn't know and it corroborates things? (paraphrasing here)

 

[Just the Fax]

What do you make of this:

"family" thought there might have been a sexual assault and that they "may" have seen someone?

 

[crocus]

One day this week I called HT at the GV location and the automatic system that gives their store hours, said they were open 24 hours a day. Maybe that is no longer correct. I went to the one on Oberlin Road (Cameron Village) today and an employee told me he thought the one at GV closed at 10:00. Do we know for sure which is correct?

If D went to the HT to get more beer or wine, where were the bottles? SW says they seized 2 beer bottles. That's nothing for a heavy drinker. If she was really drinking she would have had a large bottle of liquor, a 12 pack of beer or a large bottle of wine. Any chance they took a photo of it and didn't take it with them?

In the tape didn't D say something about having gone outside or stepped outside? I'll have to listen again. It's just so upsetting I really dread it.

I wonder if the 2 bottles they took were sitting out, on a side table in the LR, or somewhere else on a table or counter.

Also, what's to say there wasn't something tucked into her overnight bag. Liquor bottle or something stronger along that line.

 

[ruben321]

What do you make of this:

"family" thought there might have been a sexual assault and that they "may" have seen someone?

This is what was reported:

Family members told WakeMed emergency room staff that they suspected Taft had been raped, and a medical exam found evidence of a sexual assault.

"The family thinks they might have seen somebody, but they really don't know," the hospital worker told the 911 dispatcher. "We can't ask the patient anything."

 

[ruben321]

What do you make of this:

"family" thought there might have been a sexual assault and that they "may" have seen someone?

okay JTF

 

[Starry Night]

It sounds like a mess for Sissy-not much of a caretaker....geez...locking the keys...beer bottles...bed at 3am.....door locked next morning. I am truly wondering if she let someone in (in a blackout) but why the rape and murder?? None of this adds up. Can an autopsy tell when the blow to the head was delivered? Necrosis of surrounding skin at the wound point?

 

[wheaten]

don't know the woman but sister sounded drunk or badly hung over in the 911 call.

speculation: she made a mistake in judgment fueled by booze or whatever, picked up someone and she has no idea who he is or what happened after they got back to te house. She woke up at 3am, he was long gone.