Hi Snick (and everyone else!) I happened to stumble on this thread, I'm from Omaha and quite interested in this case too. Everytime I drive down Underwood I think about the family and wonder when this is going to be solved. Thanks for keeping the thread going and sharing all of your great ideas. I've wondered about this since it happened. I will share my thoughts, ramdom as they may be...lol
As much as I agree with you on so many things, I differ with you on the Omaha crime and lack of investigations. 90% of the murders that happen in Omaha are not random, they happen in the streets of north Omaha. I'm a north Omaha resident so I dont feel bad stating that fact, it is street crime that is painting Omaha in such bad light. The crime is a chain reaction, retaliation for the shooting that happened yesterday is the cause of the shooting today and so on, its a cycle. Everyone in the streets knows who shot whom and why, but they are not willing to tell the police because of retaliation. I can find out within hours of a murder why it happened by asking someone, not who did it, but why it happened. The police know who do the crimes too, but it is such a strong subculture in the criminal community that their suspects are right here, just very well hidden. I liken it to the new age version of the Underground Railroad, just not for the good purposes that the URR was founded. The lack of solved murders are not for lack of trying on the police's part, it's lack of cooperation from those in the know. It's a sad state of affairs here yes, but until all of the residents of the offending community step up and force these little knuckle heads to change, nothing will happen. I can only think of about 5 or 6 truly random murders in 2008, one of them being at the Hunter house. (sorry for my soapbox
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I think you may be right about this case not getting the local attention it deserves, but I think it is less of a conspiracy and more of a public affairs spin. This happened in one of the most prominent neighborhoods, to a prominent couple. That is a lot more damaging to the image of Omaha (that is REALLY trying to market itself on a happening place to visit!) then some wannabe gangbangers killing each other off. The area the Hunter's live is somewhere that anyone visiting Omaha could and would go. The area that 90% of crime takes place is somewhere that people visiting Omaha are not going to go, even if they are lost. Fahey has worked hard on the image of this city, the media has a lot to lose by breaking the silence and tarnishing the image.
The one thing that has nagged at me from the begining is the lack of substantial reward for information on the crime. A prominent family likely has prominent friends and an ample bank account to offer up $ in addition to Crimestoppers. Money talks and unfortuantely in our greedy society, some people are not really motivated by $1000 anymore. It's odd to me that 5k, 10k or even 20k wasnt added specifically for this case.
All of your theories make sense, I sway back and forth from one to another. It never crossed my mind about the honor of a child theory, that was good! I am sure police talked to the classmates, if at the least to ask if they noticed anyone strange hanging around the school, or if Thomas had mentioned anything out of the ordinary. I wonder if they thought to ask if Thomas had any problems with other students?
Honda CRV's arent a typical rental car, I am having trouble thinking of any of the rentals that offer that particular car.
Now here are some things that puzzle me. Thomas and Shirlee were murdered with knives. Knives are the most inconvienient means to kill someone, let alone two people. You would have to totally take the victim by surprise or fight thru a struggle. I dont remember hearing if there was a struggle with either victim. Why would the potential of a struggle be worth the risk to a murderer? Knives are also messy, even if it werent a fatal wound, the stabber is going to have blood spatter on them. Why would the risk of anyone seeing the spatter be worth the risk to a murderer?
Someone bringing knives with them seems premeditated, yet on the other hand using knives seems like a risky method. Why bring more than one knife to the scene?
Stabbing is a passionate crime, specifically when there are multiple excess wounds. Excuse the pun, but someone had an axe to grind, IMO.
Some reasons for using a knife: Someone with a history of mental illness wouldnt be approved for a gun permit, so they could not legally buy a gun. I dont know this for a fact, but I believe that non US residents are not allowed to buy a gun. Someone suddenly decided to commit this crime, they didnt have enough time to buy a gun and secure a permit.
I really believe if this were a professional hit they would not have used a knife. If it were something related to a drug deal gone bad or a dispute over drug $, the murderer would have solved it with a gun, not a knife. A professional would have also scoped out the situation, meaning he would have known who was around when and exactly where he was going. Based on neighbor comments, I dont think this person knew exactly where he was going. Then again maybe that was part of his plan, to look confused, but that just draws attention to you. Puzzling.
The next part I am torn over, if the murdered was only after Shirlee, he had all day to target her and her alone. If the murdered was after Thomas, well that makes sense why it happened around 4:00. If the murdered was actually targeting the mother or father, the 4:00 scenerio makes sense. What Dr. (outside of thos in an office practice) would still be working after 4:00? When I think of Dr's I think they are free most of the afternoon. Even professors, I cant think of a single prof I had that was around campus past 3:00 unless they had a late class. It would be helpful to know what Mrs Dr Hunter's normal schedule was had she not been traveling that day. Is she normally home around 4:00? But again, if you are coming prepared with knives would you really be expecting two people to greet you? On the flip side, if you werent expecting two people why would you bring multiple knives? Setting here thinking, if I were a murderer I really dont think it would cross my mind to take mutliple knives even if I were walking into a house full of people, in fact I know it wouldnt. Multiple knives strikes me as extremely odd. (PS I'm not a murdered, I just try to think like a criminal when I think about these things, in case anyone was worried...lol)
If I remember right, the older brothers lived out of state, so I'm having a hard time factoring them into this, not that the tie isnt possible. The suspect description could easily fit the age of one of their peers, but with them so far away I dont know what the gain would be.
In Omaha it is very uncommon to have a housekeeper on staff all day, even in that neighborhood. A maid for a few hours, yes. A nanny for smaller children, yes. But an all day maid in this city is not common. If the murderer was someone very familiar with the family or Shirlee they would know that she was there all day, any other person outside of that small circle, would not. Most people would assume that Thomas was at an age where he was old enough to stay home for the 1 - 2 hours until his dad came home at 6:00, so that leads me back to someone not realizing that Shirlee was there. Nothing about this whole case is black and white, it is so puzzling!
Like I said I buy into every one of the theories that has been posted here, when you think about them they all make sense one way or another with the small amount of facts that we actually know, yet at the same time none of them make sense. I think its going to be something beyond the obvious, not directly a student who felt they were wronged and not directly a parent or sibling of a patient, not directly a parent of Thomas' peer, maybe an extended family member of one of those groups. The direct links are too easy to identify and trace and they would have found their suspect by now.
After I typed all of this I'm not sure what I think my theory is anymore, I've pretty much talked myself out of what I thought for the past 10 months!
