Omaha double murder

[colette]

Good find! They do look similar. I don't know why, but I felt before I was led to believe the housekeeper was African-American. This puts a new spin on it for me. Thanks for the info!

I had seen pictures of the housekeeper but not the mother, so I was kind of surprised how much they looked alike.

 

[YellowDog]

Here is an article that has the sketch of the possible killer. It says he has olive skin. In this article they say he drives an suv.. in the above article it says a Honda CRV.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10347657

Thanks for that link. If that composite drawing is very accurate, I would agree that the man looks like he is of Middle Eastern descent.

 

[chicagofa13]

If she was 57 she looked a lot younger in the pic, imo. For some reason I didn't see the perp's sketch in that last link. Oh well, maybe I should be sleeping instead of blackberrying here in bed!!

 

[colette]

If she was 57 she looked a lot younger in the pic, imo. For some reason I didn't see the perp's sketch in that last link. Oh well, maybe I should be sleeping instead of blackberrying here in bed!!

lol...it's off to the right hand side from the print, it almost looks like an ad.

 

[YellowDog]

Has there been any information in the press about what kind of personality the Hunter boy had? Was he quiet, bossy, studious, gregarious, did he get along well with his classmates? How did he spend his free time?

 

[YellowDog]

This is really a strange case. Two high profile physicians have a son and housekeeper murdered in broad daylight and there is barely any news on the internet about this case since March when it happened. Why is Omaha LE keeping this so low key?

 

[Snick1946]

Catching up here after a few days off.
Yellowdog- I may be sending you a private message in the next day or so, you may want to check on this.
The strangest part of this whole thing is the community reaction- or lack thereof. The story was in the news here for a week, then after the funerals, nothing. The paper ran a followup (which I posted) 60 days later. There were NO letters printed to the editor even though I know some who wrote them. It was like the whole thing was blacked out by mutual agreement. To this day there seems to be some sort of fear in talking about it. I notice a few people at work I have mentioned it to change the subject.
There were a few vague references I read about 'ugly' rumors floating around town about the family, I never head any of them.
From all accounts the Hunter boy was a pretty nice kid. The on line guest book in the paper had a lot of notes from his school friends, most about how funny and happy go lucky he was. As I mentioned there was at least to me some undercurrent that he may have been something of a teaser; one comment I read said somehting about his being a real presence on the school bus. Makes you wonder.
ShowerSinger- I also wonder about the brothers and how they may fit in. At least one source I dont think I ought to name (they have a web site with an article about this crime) felt there was something odd about one of the brothers- like one of them may have been a black sheep. Did you read someplace about Warcraft or other specific games? I just conjectured this based on his age and also what looked to be a t shirt he worke in the school picture that looked like some goth design, but maybe thats out there.
I believe the knives were brought in.
May post more in a bit but want to get this up for now.

 

[MeoW333]

You know I just found another article with pictures of the victims and the parents of the boy. Actually the housekeeper looks something like the mother/Dr. Maybe some family member died under her care, as she was a cardiologist. (again going back to a revenge murder like Dr Cornbleet) They really never saw the doctor or met her only briefly. I could see him thinking the housekeeper was the doctor, afterall she was in her home.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/16658516.html

I was thinking the same thing, that the killer mistaken the housekeeper for the mother!


"• Sherman's body was found about 20 feet from the dining room, in a first-floor hallway. A bucket of cleaning supplies was a few feet from her body."
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10347657

I wonder if the housekeeper was really cleaning, or did the killer get the cleaning supplies out to try and clean up some of his mess a little?

 

[gooniequeen]

I was thinking the same thing, that the killer mistaken the housekeeper for the mother!


"• Sherman's body was found about 20 feet from the dining room, in a first-floor hallway. A bucket of cleaning supplies was a few feet from her body."
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10347657

I wonder if the housekeeper was really cleaning, or did the killer get the cleaning supplies out to try and clean up some of his mess a little?

I would assume as the housekeeper she was actually cleaning. I assume she was interrupted while cleaning when the knock on the door came.

I have just stumbled upon this case - facinating.

Regarding the video game being paused, I am the mother of 12 and 14 year old boys and I am very familar with the habits of this age group. Had the boy heard something upstairs and was in the middle of the game, he may have habitually paused the game (my kids would do this if they were walking away for a minute) and ran upstairs to check on the situation.

 

[YellowDog]

Since there didn't appear to be any robbery committed, I'm inclined to think the visitor came specifically to see either the son or the housekeeper. I think it was the son. The maid answered the door, called the son to come up, went about her business, the man killed the boy and then the maid in the hallway who had gone back to her work was shot.

 

[gooniequeen]

Since there didn't appear to be any robbery committed, I'm inclined to think the visitor came specifically to see either the son or the housekeeper. I think it was the son. The maid answered the door, called the son to come up, went about her business, the man killed the boy and then the maid in the hallway who had gone back to her work was shot.

or he came for the maid (not realizing the boy was home) and when the boy heard the commotion upstairs he paused his game and ran upstairs to see what was going on and then he was killed.

I did read they were both stabbed multiple times in the neck. sounds pretty personal to me.

 

[YellowDog]

or he came for the maid (not realizing the boy was home) and when the boy heard the commotion upstairs he paused his game and ran upstairs to see what was going on and then he was killed.

I did read they were both stabbed multiple times in the neck. sounds pretty personal to me.

Maybe, but it seems like if the maid was the target, he would have gone to her home instead of the boy's.

 

[Snick1946]

One suggestion as to why ths case was under-reported may be found in today's Omaha World Herald, front page story listing the ten biggest news stories of Omaha in 2008. NOTHING at all about all the unsolved murders and crimes even though we now have over 30 plus still not solved, including this one. Among other big 'stories' listed were the opening of a pedestrian bridge and relocation of the state fair. Pathetic.
Someone at this newspaper has a real 'feel good' attitude and most of these murders were all under-reported, usually dropped off in a day or so. That is one of the big problems in this case.

 

[colette]

Well you are probably right Snick1946, about the "feel good" attitude. Sweeping these murders under the rug is not helping catch the killers. The more the public knows, the more they can help.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

I used to live in a city where crime was routinely not reported. They didn't want to give the city a bad rep - but, it was important and eventually after some bad things in the downtown area - the policy stopped. People didn't realize how bad for example the downtown area was at night and on weekends.

 

[YellowDog]

One suggestion as to why ths case was under-reported may be found in today's Omaha World Herald, front page story listing the ten biggest news stories of Omaha in 2008. NOTHING at all about all the unsolved murders and crimes even though we now have over 30 plus still not solved, including this one. Among other big 'stories' listed were the opening of a pedestrian bridge and relocation of the state fair. Pathetic.
Someone at this newspaper has a real 'feel good' attitude and most of these murders were all under-reported, usually dropped off in a day or so. That is one of the big problems in this case.

They need a few zealous reporters around there who believe in bringing the real news to the surface. Don't they have any crime reporters with any of the newspapers around there?

 

[Snick1946]

Thought some of you may find it interesting: One of our members posted on the WOWT (local TV station) news chat board about this case, using their Websleuths name. I posted back using mine, I saw nothing in anything either of us said that was improper. This morning those posts were no longer on there.
This sort of thing has become typical. Some powerful local forces seem to want discussion of this case stifled.

 

[gooniequeen]

what were your posts about?

 

[peachy123]

I have followed this case since I have a son the same age. Someone had mentioned that the maid may not have been the target since it would make more sense for her to be targeted at her own home. I recall reading that her home was burglarized not long before the murders which had led her to carry her money on her person.

 

[Snick1946]

Peachy123- I read that, too. That was offered as explanation as to why she had a large sum of money in her purse, she was afraid to leave it at home.
I thought at the time that was BS- I think earlier I mentioned that one of my inlaws is what you may call a 'prominent attorney'. Since his mother lives nearby he made some off the record inquiries and was told that one theory was that Ms Sherman was either dealing in drugs part time or more likely was trying to buy off drug dealers who were harassing and threatening her daughter's family. That would explain why she had the money also why she seemed to be expecting this guy. Maybe he didnt like the amount she offered and he killed her to keep things quiet. The poor kid just came up at the wrong time.
That may in part explain the secrecy involved as there may be a parallel drug case going on at the same time.What my relative told me was a bit more chilling, that the killer or someone in his group is a 'protected informant.' So they will let this go for now. My relative couldnt seem to understand why I felt outrage at this. The comment was that 'someone else will kill him eventually, anyway it was a drug thing so don't worry about it.'
Understand this is not a confirmed story, just third hand from someone a friend of his supposedly knows at OPD; I haven't posted it up to now but felt I should now.