Omaha double murder

[waltzingmatilda]

LE has been so tight lipped that we'll probably never know if anything was found on the computer unless an arrest is made, then we may learn something at trial. Ya, I hope they questioned friends and classmates too. However I think it would be difficult to glean any information from young ones if questioned soon after the murders. Young people grieve hard when a friend passes away....and in this case, Brutally murdered!

 

[MyLilElves]

I'm still here too. I'm a thread lurker, but I read and pray that the person who did this is found.

 

[colette]

I'm here too, checking for updates all the time. Hope to see this case solved, the victims deserve it.

 

[Knox]

Hi all Very intriguing case. I read the exclusive interview with the Father and was struck by something he said. I tried to go back and find the link but missed it somewhere, I will quote from memory (not exact). " I knew something was wrong right away when I saw our housekeepers car parked" ....

Why would the HK have parked in a different spot than normal? Was she trying to avoid someone? If you guys have discussed and dismissed this already, sorry

 

[colette]

I think the problem was that the car should have been gone. He thought something was wrong because the housekeeper/car was still there, normally she would have left before he came home at that hour.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Also, Ms Sherman was there on a day that she was not normally scheduled to be there, IIRC. I'm thinking she was pulling extra duty since Mrs. Dr. Hunter was away at a convention, but that's only my opinion, I do not know that is really the reason.

Knox, Welcome to Websleuths! I'm glad you are sleuthing this case with us.

Also, Thanks to those of you who are still following this case. It has been lonely on this thread lately. Glad you're all still here!

matilda

 

[Snick1946]

Some of you may want to look at this, I found it when doing a Google search under MySpace for 'Tom Hunter' limited to members in Omaha:

http://www.myspace.com/103265073

Even if it's him I doubt any connection to the case but note no activity since 2006. It wouldn't be unusual for a 10 year old to create a MySpace page, pretending to be older. Maybe this particular page has no bearing but it may suggest that he was active online maybe with people he didn't know.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Snick, that is very interesting! I enlarged the MS pic and it looks like it was taken in a school restroom or locker room due to the tiles on the wall in the background. The kid in the pic looks older than 10 and his hair is different than Tom's but heck, when my son was 10 he wore his hair cut short on one side and longer on the other. So what do I know?

Another possibility is that Tom used a pic of one of his brothers or their friends when opening the account.

Or someone could have been using Tom's name on MS and became involved online with evil doers. It's interesting that there has been no activity since '06.

Does anyone know how to do a screenshot and post that pic beside one of Tom from the FBI link on the previous page? I don't know how darnit! TIA

matilda

 

[colette]

Tom and Hunter are both common names, in a city as large as Omaha there could be a few Tom Hunters.

 

[Snick1946]

Tom and Hunter are both common names, in a city as large as Omaha there could be a few Tom Hunters.

Yeah, I am aware there's a real good chance this isn't him. I did think though there was some facial resemblence but from the photo it's hard to say. This isn't any major thing, I just found it interesting and maybe leads to questions as to what he may have been up to on line.

 

[YellowDog]

I was just rereading some of the earlier posts on this case and they said KNIVES were left at the scene. This means either the killer took more than one knife with him or the killer used knives from the home. If the knives were from the home, the person seen entering the house in the topcoat with the briefcase or satchel over his shoulder may not even be the killer (although doubtful).

A couple of hours lapsed from the time he was seen entering the house and the time Dr. Hunter arrived home leaving plenty of time for someone else to enter the house. I also read where the housekeeper let the stranger in. I wonder how a neighbor can be so sure of this fact. I would think it would be very difficult to see who answered the door from across the street or a few doors away. If the same person supplied all of this information (olive skinned stranger, briefcase, Honda CRV, housekeeper answering the door, stranger leaves, etc., etc.), I would want to check this person out more thoroughly.

I wonder if there was some teenager in the neighborhood who had a feud going with the boy.

 

[Mia]

Wow, this IS a tough one. I just finished reading through most of the posts related to this case. I thought this didn't look like a professional hit for a couple of reasons. First, witnesses said they saw the car moving slowly down the block, the driver looking at house numbers like he didn't know where he was going. As Mr TT said, if it were a professional hit this guy would know exactly where the house was days in advance. Second, if it was a professional hit, either the housekeeper OR Thomas was targeted, right? I find it unlikely the woman and boy were connected together in some seedy business and that they were BOTH targets - my point being: if a professional hit, and the housekeeper was targeted, the hit man would NOT have gone for her while she was at the private home of her employers which is located on a quiet, wealthy residential street, because again, whoever was behind the hit would have thoroughly checked the situation and known that there was a chance her employers' kid would be around, if not the employers' themselves, not to mention neighbors. Ultimately, if a professional hit, and the housekeeper was targeted, it seems unlikely they would go for her in the Hunters' home (on a day she wasn't even supposed to be there, at that.) Based on this point, however, I guess it would make more sense then, if it were a professional job, that Thomas was the target. If the housekeeper wasn't supposed to be there that day, the hit man very well may have thought, after surveillance of Thomas's and his family's schedules, that he'd find the boy alone that day. However, I have a really hard time believing an 11-year old boy, especially one seemingly as normal and well-adjusted as Thomas appears to be (not a truant, or into drugs, or burglaries, or any other of those juvenile crimes), would be the target of a professional hit.

Unless, of course, as some of you seem to think, the boy had inside information that may potentially damage important, powerful people. Meaning what? Sexual abuse which may or may not be linked to past events in Omaha (of which I do believe occurred, by the way)? Could Thomas have witnessed a crime? Was he involved with shady people on-line, through video games or something else? I suppose all of these are possibilities. Can anyone think of any other reason a boy like Thomas would potentially be a target of a hired killer?

Another thing I read is that they were stabbed to death in the necks and heads, indisputably a horrific way to die. Isn't it known in forensic circles that generally speaking, a stabbing speaks that it is a "personal" crime, or something along those lines? That in most stabbings, the perpetrator is someone the victim knew, and was likely close to? I guess it takes a lot of rage/passion to stab someone, and it would be difficult for a stranger to have those feelings for another stranger. More likely a stranger, if he had to use a knife, would slit the victim's throat, perhaps, but stabbing just seems really personal to me. And I've never heard of a professional hit man stabbing his "targets" - too messy, too large a chance of being cut himself and leaving blood/evidence behind, takes too long/allows for the possibility of the victim screaming and attracting attention to the scene, etc. Multiply these risks by two (there being two victims) and it makes a professional hit even less likely in this scenario -- unless of course, it was a really stupid, inexperienced hit man, in which case, it wasn't really a professional hit, but merely a murder for hire done by really sloppy people.

Then again, whoever he/they are, they haven't been caught yet, so who knows? This case really is sending my mind in circles. I am quite sure, however, that Thomas was the intended victim, either as revenge on his parents or for his own reasons, and that the housekeeper was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the housekeeper was the target by a family member, local drug dealers, etc., with the reward money being offered, I think this one would have been solved long ago. Someone would have talked. That someone hasn't makes me think a more intriguing person/people are involved, and that that person/people has connections to the Hunters, be it Thomas, his family, or both.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Wow, this IS a tough one. I just finished reading through most of the posts related to this case. I thought this didn't look like a professional hit for a couple of reasons. First, witnesses said they saw the car moving slowly down the block, the driver looking at house numbers like he didn't know where he was going. As Mr TT said, if it were a professional hit this guy would know exactly where the house was days in advance. Second, if it was a professional hit, either the housekeeper OR Thomas was targeted, right? I find it unlikely the woman and boy were connected together in some seedy business and that they were BOTH targets - my point being: if a professional hit, and the housekeeper was targeted, the hit man would NOT have gone for her while she was at the private home of her employers which is located on a quiet, wealthy residential street, because again, whoever was behind the hit would have thoroughly checked the situation and known that there was a chance her employers' kid would be around, if not the employers' themselves, not to mention neighbors. Ultimately, if a professional hit, and the housekeeper was targeted, it seems unlikely they would go for her in the Hunters' home (on a day she wasn't even supposed to be there, at that.) Based on this point, however, I guess it would make more sense then, if it were a professional job, that Thomas was the target. If the housekeeper wasn't supposed to be there that day, the hit man very well may have thought, after surveillance of Thomas's and his family's schedules, that he'd find the boy alone that day. However, I have a really hard time believing an 11-year old boy, especially one seemingly as normal and well-adjusted as Thomas appears to be (not a truant, or into drugs, or burglaries, or any other of those juvenile crimes), would be the target of a professional hit.

Unless, of course, as some of you seem to think, the boy had inside information that may potentially damage important, powerful people. Meaning what? Sexual abuse which may or may not be linked to past events in Omaha (of which I do believe occurred, by the way)? Could Thomas have witnessed a crime? Was he involved with shady people on-line, through video games or something else? I suppose all of these are possibilities. Can anyone think of any other reason a boy like Thomas would potentially be a target of a hired killer?

Another thing I read is that they were stabbed to death in the necks and heads, indisputably a horrific way to die. Isn't it known in forensic circles that generally speaking, a stabbing speaks that it is a "personal" crime, or something along those lines? That in most stabbings, the perpetrator is someone the victim knew, and was likely close to? I guess it takes a lot of rage/passion to stab someone, and it would be difficult for a stranger to have those feelings for another stranger. More likely a stranger, if he had to use a knife, would slit the victim's throat, perhaps, but stabbing just seems really personal to me. And I've never heard of a professional hit man stabbing his "targets" - too messy, too large a chance of being cut himself and leaving blood/evidence behind, takes too long/allows for the possibility of the victim screaming and attracting attention to the scene, etc. Multiply these risks by two (there being two victims) and it makes a professional hit even less likely in this scenario -- unless of course, it was a really stupid, inexperienced hit man, in which case, it wasn't really a professional hit, but merely a murder for hire done by really sloppy people.

Then again, whoever he/they are, they haven't been caught yet, so who knows? This case really is sending my mind in circles. I am quite sure, however, that Thomas was the intended victim, either as revenge on his parents or for his own reasons, and that the housekeeper was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the housekeeper was the target by a family member, local drug dealers, etc., with the reward money being offered, I think this one would have been solved long ago. Someone would have talked. That someone hasn't makes me think a more intriguing person/people are involved, and that that person/people has connections to the Hunters, be it Thomas, his family, or both.

:clap::clap:Excellent post Mia! This case sends my mind in circles too because it is hard to believe that a young boy is the target of a hit. Your last sentence sums it up though.

Someone had a vendetta that was personal which was the reason for the stabbings! I think poor Ms Sherman was at the wrong place at the wrong time. JMO

Please keep posting! We need new sleuths and new perspectives on this sad case!

matilda

 

[Mia]

Thank you, Matilda! I appreciated your response. I just joined WS after lurking for a long time, and I'm still intimidated by all of the incredibly intelligent, clever people on here. Not sure I can keep up!

Just to examine another angle of this case. From the beginning of this thread, I noticed many were guessing the killer was an angry medical student out for revenge on one of the Drs Hunter due to some academic related-incident like not getting accepted into a residency. At first I found this plausible too. After all, that both of Thomas's parents are doctors may be completely incidental and insignificant and have nothing at all to do with this case, or it may not. However, in a situation like the one described I would think it more likely that the killer would want to hurt one of the parents who wronged him. Would a medical student really be so heartless and conniving as to kill the innocent 11-year old son of the doctors, because of something the doctor(s) did? Gosh, if this is the case, this is a truly sociopathic person. I can't imagine killing an innocent child is easy, even for someone enraged at that child's parent(s) - and to stab an innocent child to death. It seems almost inhuman. And then to walk out so calmly, as if nothing at all happened? (I believe I read that witnesses remembered seeing the ominous stranger/killer leave the house and walk at a normal pace back to his car and casually drive away.)

They just doesn't sound like the actions of a first time killer/angry medical student.

And along these same lines, if it were a medical student and he went to the home expecting to find one of the Doctors Hunter and found Ms Sherman and the boy instead, would he really say to himself, "Oh, well, I'll just kill this strange woman and the boy then." And again, walk out like nothing happened?

To clarify my point: the actions of the killer (if the ominous stranger seen entering and leaving the house is the killer) don't point to an angry med student/first time murderer. They are too cool and calculated. Therefore I think Thomas or the doctor(s) were targeted for a different reason. The question is, what is that reason? I really hope LE still sees this case as a top priority. These victims need justice!

 

[Snick1946]

I was just rereading some of the earlier posts on this case and they said KNIVES were left at the scene. This means either the killer took more than one knife with him or the killer used knives from the home. If the knives were from the home, the person seen entering the house in the topcoat with the briefcase or satchel over his shoulder may not even be the killer (although doubtful).

A couple of hours lapsed from the time he was seen entering the house and the time Dr. Hunter arrived home leaving plenty of time for someone else to enter the house. I also read where the housekeeper let the stranger in. I wonder how a neighbor can be so sure of this fact. I would think it would be very difficult to see who answered the door from across the street or a few doors away. If the same person supplied all of this information (olive skinned stranger, briefcase, Honda CRV, housekeeper answering the door, stranger leaves, etc., etc.), I would want to check this person out more thoroughly.

I wonder if there was some teenager in the neighborhood who had a feud going with the boy.

On my visit to the crime scene earlier last month I was looking among other things for how visable the front door area would have been to neighbors say across the street. That's a bit hard to say as I was there in mid Spring and this would have been last March, less folage on the trees and bushes at the front of the house. Still I have wondered about all the alleged eyewittness reports. They came apparently from more than one person but In order to see the guy admitted to the house someone would have had to be looking almost straight on. How many people take that much interest in their neighbors' goings on? Another thing that bothers me: the composite sketch is a side view. Would that suggest the source of this was the neighbor across the street? He leaves the house deliberately and casually. Gets in his car and drives slowly away. Again that seems not to fit. If he'd just killed two people he wouldn't want to attract attention but I also think he'd be inclined to get away ASAP.
Not sure where all this leads but I would restate that I think maybe the answer to this crime lies closer to home than we realize. I agree with YellowDog, LE needs to revisit the neighbors. If Tom was feuding with someone in the area someone should know. After all the theories debated on this board wouldn't it be ironic if that turned out to be the answer. This crime has some hallmarks of being the product of a psychotic, not of a med student or hit person hired by someone with a grudge.
Mia, your posts are fantastic and welcome! I will address your points shortly.

 

[Syttende]

I found this case in FBI.gov's Seeking Information page, and it has bothered me since.

Snick1946's theories about Thomas being the target b/c of online activities, video games, etc. ARE logical, but I would be surprised if they were true. Thomas sounds like a smart kid and with all the warnings out there, why would he allow an internet stranger into his home, especially one that looks so suspicious? What would he be doing with an 18+ adult male? On video games where players contact each other like Left 4 Dead and WoW, young kids are usually ridiculed. I don't think he would have been taken seriously, certainly not to the extent where someone would go out of their way to visit him.

However the bit about his video game being on 'pause' stuck with me. My boyfriend loves his video games and it is so hard to tear him away from them 99% of the time. I'm assuming Thomas is similar, since most boys who enjoy video games that I've known are also like that. Maybe he got up to use the phone or bathroom or to get a snack and ran into the assailant? Okay, that's not likely, either, since I'm guessing they have a bathroom in the basement area. He definitely must have been called up there somehow.

The murderer reads to me as someone who was attempting to carry out a 'professional' murder for hire, but was an amateur and didn't know how to properly execute a murder. The scorned medical student theory has probably been exhausted, but I feel like it has some credibility to it. I also think he was probably after the parents, and misjudged the time they arrived home or simply didn't know any better.

sorry about the ramblings. Like I said, this case and many others bother me. From what I've read, Thomas seemed like such a bright, handsome kid... someone that could have grown up to follow in the footsteps of his successful parents. So tragic.

 

[Syttende]

Please ignore this, my internet timed out just as I hit reply so I double posted. Sorry!

 

[waltzingmatilda]

On my visit to the crime scene earlier last month I was looking among other things for how visable the front door area would have been to neighbors say across the street. That's a bit hard to say as I was there in mid Spring and this would have been last March, less folage on the trees and bushes at the front of the house. Still I have wondered about all the alleged eyewittness reports. They came apparently from more than one person but In order to see the guy admitted to the house someone would have had to be looking almost straight on. How many people take that much interest in their neighbors' goings on? Another thing that bothers me: the composite sketch is a side view. Would that suggest the source of this was the neighbor across the street? He leaves the house deliberately and casually. Gets in his car and drives slowly away. Again that seems not to fit. If he'd just killed two people he wouldn't want to attract attention but I also think he'd be inclined to get away ASAP.
Not sure where all this leads but I would restate that I think maybe the answer to this crime lies closer to home than we realize. I agree with YellowDog, LE needs to revisit the neighbors. If Tom was feuding with someone in the area someone should know. After all the theories debated on this board wouldn't it be ironic if that turned out to be the answer. This crime has some hallmarks of being the product of a psychotic, not of a med student or hit person hired by someone with a grudge.
Mia, your posts are fantastic and welcome! I will address your points shortly.

Snick, I too have considered the eyewitness accounts and wondered how this perp commited these murders and walked calmly away....unscathed with not signs of evidience such as blood or even a quick gait. This brings a thought to my mind that I have entertained, so here goes......

Could there have been 2 perps? One perp, the killer, could have been local, and was already at the home and entered thru the back door. The other perp, the man in the SUV, could have actually ordered the hit and wanted to be present to watch it carried out and actually brought the knives for the killer to use.

I just keep going back to those darn knives and feel that they were left as some sort of message. If there was a knife left in Tom's throat could it have been a message that he was being silenced. Could Tom have discovered something so horrible about someone and voiced this horrible thing to someone, not knowing that it was horrible enough to cause him to lose his life? I wish LE would question the neighbors again and also Tom's peer group and teachers.

Great post Mia! Please hang in there with us. You bring great new ideas to the thread!
:blowkiss:matilda

 

[waltzingmatilda]

I found this case in FBI.gov's Seeking Information page, and it has bothered me since.

Snick1946's theories about Thomas being the target b/c of online activities, video games, etc. ARE logical, but I would be surprised if they were true. Thomas sounds like a smart kid and with all the warnings out there, why would he allow an internet stranger into his home, especially one that looks so suspicious? What would he be doing with an 18+ adult male? On video games where players contact each other like Left 4 Dead and WoW, young kids are usually ridiculed. I don't think he would have been taken seriously, certainly not to the extent where someone would go out of their way to visit him.

However the bit about his video game being on 'pause' stuck with me. My boyfriend loves his video games and it is so hard to tear him away from them 99% of the time. I'm assuming Thomas is similar, since most boys who enjoy video games that I've known are also like that. Maybe he got up to use the phone or bathroom or to get a snack and ran into the assailant? Okay, that's not likely, either, since I'm guessing they have a bathroom in the basement area. He definitely must have been called up there somehow.

The murderer reads to me as someone who was attempting to carry out a 'professional' murder for hire, but was an amateur and didn't know how to properly execute a murder. The scorned medical student theory has probably been exhausted, but I feel like it has some credibility to it. I also think he was probably after the parents, and misjudged the time they arrived home or simply didn't know any better.

sorry about the ramblings. Like I said, this case and many others bother me. From what I've read, Thomas seemed like such a bright, handsome kid... someone that could have grown up to follow in the footsteps of his successful parents. So tragic.

Great post Syttende and Welcome to WS! We appreciate your input and don't worry about feeling like you are rambling. We ramble on about this case here daily!:crazy:

Please keep posting!

matilda:blowkiss:

 

[YellowDog]

Another thought just crossed my mind. Thomas was probably alone in the house every day except the day the housekeeper cleaned. Who better to know that than neighbors?
If she was cleaning on a day other than her regular day or there later than usual, the killer may have expected to find Thomas alone.

I do think LE needs to reevaluate the possibility that the man seen entering the house may not be the killer at all.

Also, could he have been wearing a full head mask not detected by the purported witness due to the distance from which he was viewed? I believe this to be a strong possibility especially if it was someone well known in the community. I think Thomas knew something that could destroy the killer's career.