OH OH - William 'Bill' Comeans, 14, Columbus, 7 Jan 1980 - #1

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

Well .. the old lady who said to have written the threatening notes were living across the Comean's house and the family probably had the best sight of the house. I wonder if any of her children had inherited a similar disease from their mom.
Quote
It is likely that a combination of childhood trauma and genetic predisposition is responsible for the development of a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder or multiple personalities in adult life.

https://suite101.com/a/multiple-personality-causes-and-symptoms-a149836

So just throwing a theory out there.. Was another said family member responsible for what happened to Bill and writing the letters and the mom suspected /knew his son was responsible and took over the accusations and also I read somewhere that she rejected to give handwriting samples and as she had previous nervous breakdowns and was hospitalized she could easily escape with $50..Not to mention Valium probably accessable in that house as well...

BTW Those notes does not appear to me from a 56 year old woman even with said nervous breakdowns..Just very odd...

 

[Tulessa]

Bob, or Kat? When you dialed for help did you just dial the 0 for operator? The reason I ask, is 911 wasn't available here in eastern Ky until the latter part of the 80's.

 

[Gemmie]

Well .. the old lady who said to have written the threatening notes were living across the Comean's house and the family probably had the best sight of the house. I wonder if any of her children had inherited a similar disease from their mom.
Quote
It is likely that a combination of childhood trauma and genetic predisposition is responsible for the development of a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder or multiple personalities in adult life.

https://suite101.com/a/multiple-personality-causes-and-symptoms-a149836

So just throwing a theory out there.. Was another said family member responsible for what happened to Bill and writing the letters and the mom suspected /knew his son was responsible and took over the accusations and also I read somewhere that she rejected to give handwriting samples and as she had previous nervous breakdowns and was hospitalized she could easily escape with $50..Not to mention Valium probably accessable in that house as well...

BTW Those notes does not appear to me from a 56 year old woman even with said nervous breakdowns..Just very odd...

Great point, MURDERER_SERVANT. Excuse my "French" but I think a fair amount of townfolk were batshit crazy. Sheesh.

 

[Gemmie]

Well .. the old lady who said to have written the threatening notes were living across the Comean's house and the family probably had the best sight of the house. I wonder if any of her children had inherited a similar disease from their mom.
Quote
It is likely that a combination of childhood trauma and genetic predisposition is responsible for the development of a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder or multiple personalities in adult life.

https://suite101.com/a/multiple-personality-causes-and-symptoms-a149836

So just throwing a theory out there.. Was another said family member responsible for what happened to Bill and writing the letters and the mom suspected /knew his son was responsible and took over the accusations and also I read somewhere that she rejected to give handwriting samples and as she had previous nervous breakdowns and was hospitalized she could easily escape with $50..Not to mention Valium probably accessable in that house as well...

BTW Those notes does not appear to me from a 56 year old woman even with said nervous breakdowns..Just very odd...

BBM: You know, those are DARN good points. Maybe she was covering for someone she knew.

 

[SisterWolf]

Well .. the old lady who said to have written the threatening notes were living across the Comean's house and the family probably had the best sight of the house. I wonder if any of her children had inherited a similar disease from their mom.
Quote
It is likely that a combination of childhood trauma and genetic predisposition is responsible for the development of a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder or multiple personalities in adult life.

https://suite101.com/a/multiple-personality-causes-and-symptoms-a149836

So just throwing a theory out there.. Was another said family member responsible for what happened to Bill and writing the letters and the mom suspected /knew his son was responsible and took over the accusations and also I read somewhere that she rejected to give handwriting samples and as she had previous nervous breakdowns and was hospitalized she could easily escape with $50..Not to mention Valium probably accessable in that house as well...

BTW Those notes does not appear to me from a 56 year old woman even with said nervous breakdowns..Just very odd...

This is pretty much exactly what GBMG and I suggested earlier in the thread. It's already been discussed in several posts. GBMG wrote a particularly excellent and detailed post which has already covered every point you've brought up, so maybe go back and read those posts and if there's something that hasn't been discussed or something we've missed, then add new questions.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

This is pretty much exactly what GBMG and I suggested earlier in the thread. It's already been discussed in several posts. GBMG wrote a particularly excellent and detailed post which has already covered every point you've brought up, so maybe go back and read those posts and if there's something that hasn't been discussed or something we've missed, then add new questions.

Thanks for the kind words, Sister. I do remember us being of the same mind on this. Does it still nag you? It does me, but I can't get anywhere else on it. Any thoughts?

 

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

This is pretty much exactly what GBMG and I suggested earlier in the thread. It's already been discussed in several posts. GBMG wrote a particularly excellent and detailed post which has already covered every point you've brought up, so maybe go back and read those posts and if there's something that hasn't been discussed or something we've missed, then add new questions.

You made me LOL... SWolf :floorlaugh:

I don't remember any post mentioning that the neighbor could have taken the blame and might be covering for someone she knew so maybe go back and give the post number of yours AND GBMG ? BTW I dont care what you posted as long as i post my own thoughts.

 

[carolann0308]

Bob and Kat do you remember the ages of the letter writers children? The nut probably does not fall far from the tree.
The teacher that said Bill asked questions... he was in HS only a few months, does it really make sense that he would pose a question like that to an adult he'd only known such a short time? Do you know the teacher's name?
LE why did they come to your house many times? Although they took reports on the incidents why multiple visits? They knew Bill was being elusive, did they gather his friends.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

You made me LOL... SWolf :floorlaugh:

I don't remember any post mentioning that the neighbor could have taken the blame and might be covering for someone she knew so maybe go back and give the post number of yours AND GBMG ? BTW I dont care what you posted as long as i post my own thoughts.

Hi, M_S -- I think SisterWolf was just trying to provide some continuity. We want to hear your ideas too. It's just that when you've been on the thread from the beginning and talked certain things through, it can be hard to go through it all again with each new poster. No ill will intended. I can point you to a few links.

Sister, help me out here -- I searched all your posts and couldn't find the one I responded to. Did it get snipped because names were mentioned in that post? Remember we had an issue around TOS?

Here are my two:
Post 154 summarizes AJT's involvement in the case
Post 160 goes into thoughts similar to yours above

 

[pdxmama]

Bob and Kat do you remember the ages of the letter writers children? The nut probably does not fall far from the tree.
The teacher that said Bill asked questions... he was in HS only a few months, does it really make sense that he would pose a question like that to an adult he'd only known such a short time? Do you know the teacher's name?
LE why did they come to your house many times? Although they took reports on the incidents why multiple visits? They knew Bill was being elusive, did they gather his friends.

That was in one of the articles, I want to say they were adults and moved out. Maybe one was an older teen still at home? Going back to look.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

Bob and Kat do you remember the ages of the letter writers children? The nut probably does not fall far from the tree.
The teacher that said Bill asked questions... he was in HS only a few months, does it really make sense that he would pose a question like that to an adult he'd only known such a short time? Do you know the teacher's name?
LE why did they come to your house many times? Although they took reports on the incidents why multiple visits? They knew Bill was being elusive, did they gather his friends.

BBM: Hi carolann Your post brings back the TOS issue I mention above, which we ran into back in those early posts. Acc to TOS we can't sleuth people who aren't directly involved in the case. Even though AJT is, her kids aren't. Some early posts listed the kids names and ages. Those posts were deleted by Bessie, our moderator extraordinaire.

Oh, ETA: General info from MSM sources is in post 154. 22 YO daughter, 3 boys up to 30.

 

[rosemadderlake]

Bob and Kat do you remember the ages of the letter writers children? The nut probably does not fall far from the tree.
The teacher that said Bill asked questions... he was in HS only a few months, does it really make sense that he would pose a question like that to an adult he'd only known such a short time? Do you know the teacher's name?
LE why did they come to your house many times? Although they took reports on the incidents why multiple visits? They knew Bill was being elusive, did they gather his friends.

Bbm: This is a good question. On the flip side, I wonder if the teacher reached out to Bill because his injuries were visible, especially after the 2nd attack, and they had a conversation. Maybe Bill was having a bad day? I wonder if LE told Bill's family which teacher because his older brothers may have had that teacher in HS.

I also wonder if LE (or the press) misconstrued the conversation.

 

[Methodical]

911 was called as my brother and I walked out the front door and headed north. ETA was apx 5 minute walk from our house north to LEO encounter.<snipped>

In all three attacks i was out somewhere else when it happened. I came home three different times and had family say bill was attacked #1, bill is missing #2,3.

Bob,
I need another clarification.
These two posts by you seem to contradict each other. maybe it's me being confused.

In the top quoted post, you say LE was called as you and your bro were heading out the door. So I assume that is exactly when Bill was first noticed to be missing. Correct? But your bottom quoted post says you were away from home in all 3 attacks, including attack #3 (Bill's death).

These seem to contradict each other. Please clarify.

On a lesser note, I believe it may be just a typo/mistake, but in the top post you say you went out the door and headed north. It was actually south that you went, initially from your house,, correct?

Can you recall which family member last seen Bill?
And what time had gone by between that person seeing Bill to when someone first noticed him missing?
Then once he was noticed to be missing, how long was it before you walked out the door to search for him?

I;m just trying to nail down all the time frames and details.

 

[pdxmama]

BBM: Hi carolann Your post brings back the TOS issue I mention above, which we ran into back in those early posts. Acc to TOS we can't sleuth people who aren't directly involved in the case. Even though AJT is, her kids aren't. Some early posts listed the kids names and ages. Those posts were deleted by Bessie, our moderator extraordinaire.

Oh, ETA: General info is in post 154. 22 YO daughter, 3 boys up to 30.

Oh, geez! Thanks for the reminder, that seems like so long ago!

 

[Methodical]

BBM: Hi carolann Your post brings back the TOS issue I mention above, which we ran into back in those early posts. Acc to TOS we can't sleuth people who aren't directly involved in the case. Even though AJT is, her kids aren't. Some early posts listed the kids names and ages. Those posts were deleted by Bessie, our moderator extraordinaire.

Oh, ETA: General info is in post 154. 22 YO daughter, 3 boys up to 30.

BBM: Yes, I had listed AJT's kids names and ages way back in the thread. The mods deleted my post, in its entirety, within 20 minutes.
Swooosh... gone! My first TOS violation.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

Original posts TBM:

The teacher that said Bill asked questions... he was in HS only a few months, does it really make sense that he would pose a question like that to an adult he'd only known such a short time? Do you know the teacher's name?

Bbm: This is a good question. On the flip side, I wonder if the teacher reached out to Bill because his injuries were visible, especially after the 2nd attack, and they had a conversation. Maybe Bill was having a bad day? I wonder if LE told Bill's family which teacher because his older brothers may have had that teacher in HS.

I also wonder if LE (or the press) misconstrued the conversation.

You're right, Rose, that is a good Q, carolann. The article that fact is part of ("Mystery Lingers ...") was written in Sept. 1981, well after Bill's death, so conceivably, if it did happen, it could have been any time in that first four months of school. Much of the info the detectives in that article cite is from the case file, so there's no indication of when it was collected, and the teacher's name is not given. I don't believe TOS would allow Bob and KatCo to post that name, even if they do know.

All good thoughts about the possible *why,* Rose. I remember coming away from the article feeling that it was a creepy, disloyal, disrespectful thing to say, but who knows how it filtered from the teacher, to LE, to the media ...

The link to the article I mention above is in post 156.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

BBM: Yes, I had listed AJT's kids names and ages way back in the thread. The mods deleted my post, in its entirety, within 20 minutes.
Swooosh... gone! My first TOS violation.

Happens to all of us

 

[GoingByMyGut]

Bob,
I need another clarification.
These two posts by you seem to contradict each other. maybe it's me being confused.

In the top quoted post, you say LE was called as you and your bro were heading out the door. So I assume that is exactly when Bill was first noticed to be missing. Correct? But your bottom quoted post says you were away from home in all 3 attacks, including attack #3 (Bill's death).

These seem to contradict each other. Please clarify.

On a lesser note, I believe it may be just a typo/mistake, but in the top post you say you went out the door and headed north. It was actually south that you went, initially from your house,, correct?

Can you recall which family member last seen Bill?
And what time had gone by between that person seeing Bill to when someone first noticed him missing?
Then once he was noticed to be missing, how long was it before you walked out the door to search for him?

I;m just trying to nail down all the time frames and details.

Just the BBM: I think you're right about typo or just directional confusion in the moment, Methodical. I remember when reading that paragraph mentally correcting both mentions of *north* to *south.* In other posts, I think he makes it very clear that he meant south.

 

[GoingByMyGut]

Original post TBM:

Well .. the old lady who said to have written the threatening notes were living across the Comean's house and the family probably had the best sight of the house.

BBM: Just so you know, M_S, you are in a conversation right now with several people of this age and older who do not consider themselves "old ladies" or "old men."

 

[Methodical]

What I am saying is that there may be pieces of the puzzle that are missing but may help us imagine how something like this could have occurred. The same way we propose scenarios like being lured from the porch somehow. Could it have occurred without evidence? Or if the evidence was there, could the coroner have missed it at this early point in the history of stun guns? Open Q. Eager for other thoughts.

BBM: I don't recall stun guns being that common or readily available in 1980 and prior, even tho they were manufactured before then. We did not even have them on our (LE) dept in 1980.

Bill's clothing would have prevented a stun gun to be effective.
The stun gun's electrodes would have had to had contact with his skin/body to be effective.

Using it thru clothing (coat, shirt, etc) would leave a arc trace or burn/melt (depending on the material), which is can be easily overlooked.

Using it on one's body would also leave a very thin-line arc path (burn), again, often easily overlooked, but visible on thorough detailed examinations.