I also thought about a sexual assault by one of both being the reason or the COD being different than what they claimed. Without minimizing, strangulation just seems to be a less gruesome option to those I can see these 2 being involved in. LM's comment about how strong SS is, unless SS was caught off guard from behind, I can see her holding her own with this creep (unless there was someone else there). It will be interesting to see what comes out at LM's hearing. For now it seems that PT is the one talking, and yet, LM told the witness PT was the one to be feared. I think it's possible PT played a larger role than what he is admitting to. JMO
Going back to the safes, IIRC it was reported that "pieces" of clothing were inside. I wonder if they could have been items that belonged to SS's mother and she was safeguarding them given their obvious sentimental value to her. Unless they had been unable to open the safes at her home, I don't see the point in taking them. I'm just having a hard time getting into the minds of psychopaths, so I'll just stop.
I totally agree on two points you make here. First being, they couldn't open the safes so they took them from the home. I think since they were friends with SS, they must have known there was $ in them, however, since they couldn't open them, they didn't know what the contents were exactly. Secondly, I agree with your interpretation of clothing. I think we may be taking "clothing" too literally. Yes, clothing could mean a t-shirt, but could also be referring to designer or sentimental items that were of value and warranted safe keeping.
I am hoping we will have a better understanding of the timeline of the day SS was murders once LM has his hearing, because I am not 100% sold that LM went to the bank with SS. As I read in comments either here or on a news website, it's possible when LM called PT to say he was "at the bank" he was referring to being at SS home because he knew she had the $ in her home, thus assuming it was in one of the safes he took from the house.