PA - Rachael DelTondo, 33, killed in mother's driveway on Mother's Day, Alquippa, 2018

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Seems the police department is casting shade in Sheldon Jeter's direction maybe to take the heat off of them. Someone at the police department leaked that report causing Rachael to lose her job. Reading through all the comments from the various Beaver Countian articles, you get the definite feeling there was bad blood between Rachael and the Aliquippa police department. Her ex-fiancé also appears to have close connections to the police department. Very odd text messages from the juvenile girl friend who dropped her off minutes before being executed.
 
mjh said:
Seems the police department is casting shade in Sheldon Jeter's direction maybe to take the heat off of them. Someone at the police department leaked that report causing Rachael to lose her job. Reading through all the comments from the various Beaver Countian articles, you get the definite feeling there was bad blood between Rachael and the Aliquippa police department. Her ex-fiancé also appears to have close connections to the police department. Very odd text messages from the juvenile girl friend who dropped her off minutes before being executed.
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Spot on with everything you said. There would actually have to be clear video footage of this kid doing this for people to believe he was guilty. Even then, you wouldn’t convince all. This girl was getting death threats after her info was leaked. Her PERSONAL info. Her parents received threats on their answering machines. These were reported to the police and it took 4 days for them to respond. 4 days!
 
The young girl who was with Rachael, the daughter of Officer Watkins, was a relative of one of Rachael’s best friends. They had known each other a long time. I would like to think she was not involved in this. No one really knows what to believe at this point.
 
mjh said:
Seems the police department is casting shade in Sheldon Jeter's direction maybe to take the heat off of them. Someone at the police department leaked that report causing Rachael to lose her job. Reading through all the comments from the various Beaver Countian articles, you get the definite feeling there was bad blood between Rachael and the Aliquippa police department. Her ex-fiancé also appears to have close connections to the police department. Very odd text messages from the juvenile girl friend who dropped her off minutes before being executed.
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BBM

Yes. I agree. This caught my eye right away. Could be nothing but seems quite fishy to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong, the juvenile girl who dropped Rachel off also happens to be the daughter of a police officer? The juveniles text messages to Rachel are quite odd to me.

Moo/Jmho/Imo/Etc.
 
Ms Pragmatic said:
The young girl who was with Rachael, the daughter of Officer Watkins, was a relative of one of Rachael’s best friends. They had known each other a long time. I would like to think she was not involved in this. No one really knows what to believe at this point.
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I too can't imagine the girl that was with Rachel had anything to do with it. I just think her text messages to Rachel seemed a bit odd.

And I just realized you answered my earlier question. I wasn't reading close enough. So, the young girl that was with Rachel getting ice cream and dropped her off at home is the daughter of LE officer Watkins. I'm trying to get all the people in this straightened out in my head.

Jmo/Moo/Jmho/Etc.
 
Elisaa444 said:
I too can't imagine the girl that was with Rachel had anything to do with it. I just think her text messages to Rachel seemed a bit odd.

And I just realized you answered my earlier question. I wasn't reading close enough. So, the young girl that was with Rachel getting ice cream and dropped her off at home is the daughter of LE officer Watkins. I'm trying to get all the people in this straightened out in my head.

Jmo/Moo/Jmho/Etc.
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Yes, she is the daughter of Officer Watkins. And yes, those texts are very very odd. I am beginning to re-think my original assumptions. The girl and her officer father later returned to the scene of the murder and the officer crossed the yellow police tape and may have contaminated the scene. This is as fishy as it gets!
 
Elisaa444 said:
I too can't imagine the girl that was with Rachel had anything to do with it. I just think her text messages to Rachel seemed a bit odd.

And I just realized you answered my earlier question. I wasn't reading close enough. So, the young girl that was with Rachel getting ice cream and dropped her off at home is the daughter of LE officer Watkins. I'm trying to get all the people in this straightened out in my head.

Jmo/Moo/Jmho/Etc.
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Didn’t the girl text Rachael and tell her to take a walk and she’d come back to pick her up later? That struck me as odd.
 
Ms Pragmatic said:
Yes, she is the daughter of Officer Watkins. And yes, those texts are very very odd. I am beginning to re-think my original assumptions. The girl and her officer father later returned to the scene of the murder and the officer crossed the yellow police tape and may have contaminated the scene. This is as fishy as it gets!
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While he was off duty, no less.
 
Precisely why this particular crime should’ve never been investigated by Aliquippa. Too many conflicts here. More than I can name here. I do believe neighboring Hopewell is assisting, but the first on the scene was Quip.
 
Was it mentioned in any of the articles that Deltondo’s ex had donated two police cruisers to Aliquippa Police dept? Because he did. And his family has been very well protected by them for a long time.
 
Yes, Chief Couch announced that Watkins needed to grieve with his family. But they were also requesting action be taken against him for crossing police line. We knew this investigation would be compromised before it even began. There is much public outrage that Aliquippa is allowed to investigate this.
 
This case was discussed on Crime & Justice with Ashleigh Banfield on HLN last night.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1805/16/ptab.01.html

First of all, I want to take you to this story, the killer in Western Pennsylvania where investigators are trying to determine why a stunning young schoolteacher was gunned down on her mother`s driveway on mother`s day, just after going for ice cream with a friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LOZIER, BEAVER COUNTY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We`re working with every resource that we have with the Pennsylvania state police, the District Attorney`s office, the Detective Bureau, to investigate this case, to tie up every detail. We`re investigating everyone that was driving around Aliquippa that night, that was anywhere near this young lady`s house. We`re getting video cameras. We are downloading information. We are interviewing witnesses. We are doing everything we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Rachael DelTondo was shot multiple times in the torso. But whether it was someone she knew or a random drive-by, that still seems to be a strange mystery tonight. But there is definitely drama in this woman`s past, and it is complicating the investigation into this crime. Like the beautiful dress that she had made for her wedding, reportedly more than $10,000.

It was a love story that turned into a lawsuit covered by the local news, in fact, when that wedding was cancelled, and the salon refused to refund Rachael`s money or give her the dress. And then there is Rachael`s suspension from her school. Because she may have been a teacher when she was, you know, at one point, but Rachael was not teaching when she was killed. And her school says her suspension might just have had something to do with the minor that police recently found with her in a steamed up car.

Joining me now, Joe Destio, anchor and reporter for Newsradio 1020, KDKA, also CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI Assistant Director, Tom Fuentes, and defense attorney, Anne Bremner is here with us as well. And also Dr. Tim Gallagher, medical examiner and forensic pathologist is joining us on the program.

First to you, Joe, can you give me a bit of a rundown on why this may have been a crime of passion and why police are throwing some cold water on that as well? When it is clear that whoever intended to kill her had every intention of doing it with a lot of gunfire and doing it at close range.

JOE DESTIO, ANCHOR AND REPORTER, NEWSRADIO 1020 KDKA: Yes, I think it`s pretty clear. While there have been some -- unconfirmed reports that it was a crime of passion, the D.A. hasn`t said that. When you`re shot at close range, at least ten bullets fired into your torso, well, there`s some
passion that is involved there. It`s unlikely, but again, nobody has confirmed that this was a random drive-by.

[18:05:17] It clearly indicates that she was targeted and that the person who did the shooting probably did know her. But again, that is not coming from authoritative sources right now. So, we know that it happened that night. It was a quiet, residential street. Her house -- her mother`s house on mother`s day. But officials are not naming any suspects. In fact, they won`t say they have suspects at this point.

BANFIELD: So what about witnesses? I mean, often -- look, if you`re gunned down in a driveway of your mother`s house on Mother`s Day, most people are home on Mother`s Day. There would be witnesses, there would be at least people who would be close by who could hear the shots, maybe someone in the driveway itself as we`re hearing possibly, and then also the possibility of video, some of those home surveillance systems that are all over people`s, you know, neighborhoods these days. What do we know about that?

DESTIO: Well, we do know that the police and detectives are looking into all of that. Those things basically have all been confirmed. The other thing that I think you know is that her cell phone, Rachael`s cell phone and perhaps others are being downloaded by state police in Hershey, Pennsylvania in the central part of the state. We don`t know what`s on those cell phones, but clearly there were records that can be accessed, even information that maybe was deleted from the phones. That is why it was sent to the Harrisburg area, because they have the software that can get at that information.

BANFIELD: OK. So they`re doing all of these things. But in the meantime, it`s not as though this woman isn`t story and drama free. She has all this baggage that she had with her when she died, including a former fiance. You know police drill down on families and obviously a former fiance and then a school that, you know, cast her adrift, because she had been caught in a car with a 17-year-old. Police saying, look, there was nothing wrong there. There was a police report, she wasn`t charged with anything. The car was steamy, yes, but we believe she was just talking. Nevertheless, Joe, she lost her job. So, there is a lot of baggage, and people who might have wanted to do ill will. And then there`s that crazy story about the police report that was never supposed to be made public about that incident with the teenager, because she was not charged. Police said there were no -- there was nothing going on in that car that was naughty. But somebody released the report. Walk me through why that is significant here.

DESTIO: Yes, like you said, there`s a kind of a lot surrounding this case. In fact, it even kind of played out this week when a police sergeant in the town of Aliquippa, where this happened was face on leave. Now, it wasn`t for anything untoward. But it was because his family is very close to Rachael DelTondo`s family, in fact, it was his own daughter, according to the D.A., who confirms this today, who was riding around with Rachael that day when they -- that evening when they went to get ice cream.

Did she witness the shooting? We don`t know that. But she was with Rachael that day. The families are close. And because of those complicating factors, detective -- Sergeant Kenneth Watkins was placed on leave pending this investigation. So we do know that she was suspended from her job at a charter school, because the charter school became aware of that incident in the car. That was two years ago. But the report was released to the media, leaked to the media last October.

That is when they became aware of it. The D.A. wanted to make everybody know that there were no criminal charges filed, it was never a case picked up on this. He said he even went so far as to notify the school that there was never any criminal complaint. Although my understanding is that her status was still under suspension when she was killed.

BANFIELD: This is super complicated. We have a school that has cut her loose. We have an incident in a steamy car with a teenager that the police say, hey, stop reading into that stuff, that wasn`t naughty, and she wasn`t charged, and nobody ever should have just released that information to the public. The D.A. said two different things, though, Joe, the D.A. said it was negligent, that it was an accident, it was sort of a clerical thing where somebody released the report and forgot to redact names. But then the D.A. also said that this was something that seemed like a personal vendetta. Is one of those wrong? Or am I getting mistimed information?

DESTIO: Well, no. They could both be true. No one`s saying the vendetta came from the police department. There could have been an error made by the department in releasing that redacted material, including social security numbers. The vendetta could have been from somebody else. We`re not sure who requested that police report, more than a year after the incident.

[18:10:06] BANFIELD: Got it. So that is interesting. That is interesting.

DESTIO: The vendetta comes in, who was the leaker and why did they want that information circulated, including to the school?

BANFIELD: Yes. Not even sure she was the leaker, who wanted the leaked information? If that is what we don`t know at this point. If the D.A. is saying, look, somebody from the cop shop forgot to redact and sent out the info -- that may not be an intentional leak with sinister intention. But the person who wanted that information on that steamy moment, were she was caught in a car that the police are saying don`t read into it, she was not charged, she didn`t do anything in that car with the 17-year-old. She was talking to the 17-year-old. She, herself, said she was just helping that 17-year-old. But yet, there`s this other drama. Her fiance cut her loose too. It was after the incident, but before the information got out publicly. So in that respect Tom Fuentes, jump in with me here, from an investigation aspect, obviously you would look at this former fiance, right, and you would also look at the people who had the wedding dress issue, it is a $10,000 rumored to be somewhere around $10,000 wedding dress. That is not pittance, if you`re having an argument over that kind of money, you`re starting to talk about serious money. So would they start looking into all of those players?

TOM FUENTES, CNN`S SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, Ashleigh, I can see in this case why they want the state police to come in and help them. It sounds to me that they are going to need about 400 investigators to get to the bottom and cover all of these various leads.

First of all, let us start with the termination from the school over an incident that wasn`t an incident, or wasn`t a crime, why was the police report made, what does the report say, and a year later she still, you know, wasn`t able to have her job back, and she didn`t file for wrongful termination, apparently, to try to get that job back. So that is one weird aspect to it.

Then you have the wedding dress, then you have the fiance breaking up with her, then you have the murder itself. With that many bullets being fired into her, police don`t want to call it a crime of passion. It`s not a drive-by shooting unless the drive-by shooter`s car stalls and they can`t move out of the way so they just stand there and shoot and shoot and shoot. So, that part makes no sense either. That somebody wanted to kill her and did so. And so that is a big lead.

Then you have the crime scene investigation of the bullets that are at the scene. They`ll be able to determine what kind of gun, how many, whether more than one gun was involved and get to the bottom of that physical part of the shooting.

BANFIELD: Yes, here`s the Beaver County District Attorney talking about the incident, just in case everybody thinks that a steamy car makes this a big headline. They want to throw a lot of water on that. Here the district attorney, David Lozier talking about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOZIER: It`s shameful that this woman was painted with a police report that had been written that did not result in criminal charges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So was she --

LOZIER: It was a personal vendetta against her at the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So Dr. Gallagher, if someone -- look, I always wonder about people shot at close range with a lot of bullets. Is there anything that an autopsy can tell you to lead you towards whether it`s a crime of passion, whether it`s a mistaken identity? I mean, is there something critical to the notion that she was shot upwards of ten times at close range?

TIM GALLAGHER, MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, thank you, Ashleigh. It actually is. At autopsy, I guess the first thing you would want to determine is what was the range of fire? You know, were they shot from across the street, or were they shot from someone standing right in
front of them? And that would be very easy to determine at autopsy by looking at the body and looking at the soot deposition on the body.

You know, when you fire a gun, not only does the bullet come out of the gun, but smoke and flame and ash come out of the gun. And that gets deposited on the body. And that material only travels about three or four feet. So if we do have that soot and ash on the body we know that the gun was within three or four feet of the victim when it was shot. Otherwise you can look at the clustering of the entry wounds. If they`re a tight cluster, you know, that the person must have been standing right in front of them like an expert marksman.

BANFIELD: Notice -- and notice the drawing that we just put up, Ann Bremner jump in on this, all of those gunshots were to her trunk. All of that red area is where she suffered this gunshots at close range. Look, if you`re trying to do the investigation, if you are trying to deal whether this was a crime of passion and someone knew her, does that help? Is this going to be a crime of passion when they don`t want to hit the face, do they want to hit the face? Do they want to hit the face, what does that tell you?

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I know. -- well, it just tells you there`s so much passion, just like strangulation`s intimate in a lot of ways, that you are so close to the body, but then there is the rage, but not hurting the face. I mean, there is cases we got -- I`ve had on suicides where women don`t, you know, mark their face. I started thinking about maybe it was a woman in the case. But, you know there is a circle of people in this case, it is not that big with possible suspects, if we are talking about passion, someone related to the boy, someone related to her fiance, her fiance, I mean, it`s a crime of passion in her mother`s driveway on Mother`s Day.

[18:15:13] BANFIELD: What does that tell you? What does that tell you? I think there is a lot more to this. I want to continue to look at this. As we get -- we get more details every day on this story too. Don`t go anywhere Anne, Joe Destio, thank you very much for your help. Tom Fuentes, I am going to ask you to stay as well and Dr. Gallagher, thank you as well.
 
It was also discussed on Crime & Justice the previous night as well. Here's the link to that transcript.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1805/15/ptab.01.html

But first to Western Pennsylvania, where a driveway turned into a death scene, that is where Rachel DelTondo was found bleeding Sunday night after reportedly going out for ice cream with a friend. And that is where Rachel DelTondo was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. Police have taken a cell phone and will try to figure out what happened. But why anyone would kill her is still a huge mystery. Tonight, a stunning 33-year-old teacher who neighbors call nice and beautiful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWAN WALKER, ALIQUIPPA MAYOR: Miss DelTondo was a bright light, she didn`t bother anybody. She didn`t hurt anyone. To lose a life like that, Rachel DelTondo, they speak to the heart of Aliquippa, because we are so close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: I want to bring in my panel Kirstin Kennedy, Cops and corpse reporter for the Beaver County Times, also CNN law enforcement analyst, and former assistant Director of the U.S. Marshalls, Art Roderick and defense attorney, Anahita Sedaghatfar.

OK. Kirstin, so, I`m hearing that up to 12 shots were heard. So my first question is, did anybody see it? What`s the motive? What do we know?

KIRSTIN KENNEDY, REPORTER, THE BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: You know, police have made it really clear they`re not going to tell us whether they have a suspect. And until they have a suspect, they`re not going to release any sort of type of motive. The multiple gunshot wounds, that is coming from the autopsy and that is coming from the Coroner, who said that, you know, she sustained several gun shots. Neighbors reported hearing 10 to 12 shots. And police have said that they`re interviewing witnesses, but they haven`t said who.

LALAMA: Well, you know, there`s a bit of a back story that I think I should explain before we go to you and our other guests. So, there`s arteries coming out of this big vein which is the horrible murder. She was on paid suspension from her school for allegedly being found in a steamy windowed car with a minor. The D.A., Kirstin, you say, is apparently now saying, oh, that is all wrong, that is rubbish, shouldn`t have happened. Now there`s a state imvestigation in Pennsylvania of the local P.D., because of a leak on the report. Now, where does all this go? Where does it take us? And is it connected in any way?

KENNEDY: You know, I can`t really say that it`s connected. I know I received an anonymous e-mail in November that contained that police report. I don`t know who sent it to me. We did double-check with the Cyber School, where she was employed and they had said that she was on suspension. And, you know, really to that, they`re not saying much.

LALAMA: But what about, I mean, will there be charges on this other matter?

KENNEDY: You know, police are really vague of whether it`s even related. So I couldn`t even begin to speculate.

LALAMA: Wow, I know. I mean, we want answers, and it`s just so strange. So I want to go to Art Roderick, CNN law enforcement analyst, former assistant Director U.S. Marshalls. So there`s one other odd element to all of this.

[18:05:06] And that -- this happens to be a woman who was going to get married. The engagement was called off allegedly, because of this incident with the minor. And she fought and fought and fought. Apparently there was a TV segment, to get her money back for the dress. So just kind of on a cursory level, because we don`t know anything really, something just sounds strange to all of this.

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALSYT: Yes, the back stories are the strange part of this whole particular case. And as a criminal investigators, as all criminal investigators, we don`t believe in any coincidences whatsoever. So all this -- all these back stories will be looked at to see, if there`s any connection to the crime. Now, the interesting thing I find it is six to 12 rounds being fired, somewhere in that vicinity, indicates to me, that it`s sort of a semi- automatic handgun or rifle. If it`s a handgun, that that means to me that they unloaded the whole clip, the whole magazine, every round in the magazine into Rachel, which is sort of an overkill shooting here, which could indicate that there`s a personal issue going on here, and that the perpetrator knew Rachel when the crime was committed. So I`m sure law enforcement is looking at all this. And also the indication that they`re tight-lipped just means to me that they have some very good leads that they`re tracking down right now.

LALAMA: Well, wouldn`t it also be potentially a murder for hire that someone shows up with an automatic weapon?

RODERICK: It could be, yes.

LALAMA: Anahita Sedaghatfar, defense attorney, well, we don`t have anybody for you to defend yet, but just looking at it, in your experience, look at all these different odd elements, I think somebody`s covering their, you know what, somewhere.

ANAHITA SEDAGHATFAR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It seems to me, I agree with you. This is not a coincidence. This was in a residential neighborhood. It was a quiet neighborhood. And there were so many people that had a motive to harm this woman. Could it be the jilted ex-husband? Could it be the individual that released that confidential police report about her and allegedly this young man? Could it be the wedding dressmaker that she had a conflict with? We just don`t know. But it`s good that the police are saying at least they have her cell phone, Pat. So they are going to look at her texts messages, they are going to go through her e-mails, her online activity and hopefully get some clues from that electronic data.

LALAMA: And back to Kirstin. Kirstin, do we know that it`s her cell phone and not of the presumed assailant?

KENNEDY: You know, they would not say who the cell phone was -- who possessed it, but they did say that it was going to the state capital in Harrisburg for further analysis than what they`re able to do locally.

LALAMA: Can you expound -- and I don`t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I`m looking at so suddenly the State of Pennsylvania is investigating Aliquippa P.D., where my family settled after coming from Italy by the way, Kirstin. And so, I`m just wondering, somebody`s in trouble for something. But we just don`t know what avenue to go down at this point. And for the right reasons, they`re probably staying hush-hush at this point, but any clues at all?

KENNEDY: Well, my understanding with that initial investigation, through the Pennsylvania State Police was, that they were looking into some issues with the city and that they really weren`t able to release a lot of details. And I think it may be a jump to connect these two cases at this point.

LALAMA: Right.

KENNEDY: Just because I really don`t know.

LALAMA: Absolutely. I understand. So let`s go back to Art Roderick, CNN law enforcement analyst. So that cell phone is going to be really, really important, because it would probably reveal moments leading up to her death.

RODERICK: Yes. Not only the cell phone, but they`re also looking at security cameras from the surrounding neighborhoods to see who was driving in and out of that neighborhood at that particular point in time. They`re also looking at traffic cameras, any toll cameras in the neighborhood. So it`s important that they gather all this video from the surrounding neighborhood to find out who was in that neighborhood at that particular time. And there`s other technical things they can do from a cell phone perspective. Looking into the forensic portion of that cell phone to figure out exactly what she was doing for that whole day and who she came in contact with, you know, hours prior to this horrific crime occurring.

LALAMA: Kirstin Kennedy, what time of day did this happen again?

KENNEDY: About 10:45 p.m. on Mother`s Day, Sunday night.

LALAMA: OK, so it`s dark out. Can you describe the neighborhood for me? Is it dark? Is it remote? Give me an idea.

KENNEDY: It`s a very -- as it`s been described, a very quiet, calm neighborhood. It is off a main road and just down the road is sort of a small business district, but it`s pretty suburban and it is pretty quiet. When I was there yesterday, I didn`t take any particular notice of street lights. You know, I don`t know, you know, if the homes had lights on at the time. I would imagine they did.

LALAMA: Wow. Did she live with her mom, Kirstin?

KENNEDY: That is my understanding.

LALAMA: All right, does she have any children? Do we know anything about her family? I know her family is called traditional Italian.

[18:10:07] KENNEDY: Sure.

LALAMA: Anything else we know about siblings, anyone else that might be a known enemy?

KENNEDY: You know, those are some of the questions that I and other news outlets were asking today. As far as I know, she has no children. I don`t know really much more details about the family.

LALAMA: Anahita, this seems to me to be an act of vengeance. You know, this is, I mean, 12 shots in the driveway, premeditated, right?

SEDAGHATFAR: Yes.

LALAMA: I mean, we are all guessing at this point.

SEDAGHATFAR: It`s all guessing. But it does seem passionate, it does seem personal, kind of like overkill. One thing about the police kind a not saying much, Pat. I don`t think that is shocking. They may know much more than they`re letting us know in the media --

LALAMA: Yes.

SEDAGHATFAR: -- because this is a murder investigation. And they certainly don`t want to do anything that would compromise it. So I would suspect that they have interviewed witnesses. There might be someone that is a person of interest or possibly a suspect. We in the media just don`t know about it yet, because they don`t want to let that out.

LALAMA: Well, it`s always that fine balance, you know, between our right to know and their right to adjudicate and follow an investigation properly. And we get frustrated, because we want so much more and they have to do their diligence to make sure we don`t screw up the case. Excuse my lingo, so let me go back to Art Roderick on that. My guess, I agree with Anahita. I think they know more than they`re saying. What you and your experience?

RODERICK: Absolutely. If there was a public safety issue, they would have come out with some description of an individual and more information about the crime itself. So, I mean, having dealt with this in my career, usually when we`re quiet on the law enforcement side. That means we`re investigating something pretty good in the background, and we won`t put out information until we hit a dead end or we run out of leads.

LALAMA: So give us law enforcement 101, Art, you know, you`re the guy, you are the detective, a man to call on to the scene. Where do you begin?

RODERICK: Well, the crime scene is the key part. I mean, we did had some reports that law enforcement was looking into the bushes. I`m assuming they`re going after shell casings that are extracted from the weapon that usually comes out to the right side of a pistol or a semi- automatic rifle. So I`m sure they`re trying to track down every round. The ballistics are going to be important. Both shell casings that they find at the scene and also any of the bullets they can take out of her body to match that up with a particular handgun. And some of these serial shootings that we`ve had in the past, in Tampa and Phoenix, the ballistics is a key part of determining how the crime was committed, but also who committed the crimes. So, the crime scene is going to be the most important thing right away, and then you can follow that on with the cell phone and video cameras and her social media footprint also.

LALAMA: Absolutely. Well, I was just going to ask Kirstin, have you seen investigators carrying boxes out of her mother`s house? You know, do we know -- you said you`re not sure that she lives with her mom, but you think so. What do we know about that?

KENNEDY: Well, I know that the district attorney today did say that it appears that most of the casings, if not all are the same caliber. But he did say that he can`t confirm that they came from the same gun. That is going to come from the state police crime lab and could take months to really confirm.

LALAMA: So Anahita, it`s so hard, because we have nothing to work with here, but you would think that there maybe was a warning or maybe she had some sort of words with someone. I mean, I`m just pulling straws out of whatever right now, because we don`t have any information. But as a seasoned defense attorney, throw out some -- throw out conjecture and let`s make sure we understand we`re just guessing at this point.

SEDAGHATFAR: Well, we are guessing, but again, like I said before, there are people that had a possible motive to harm this woman. And so the police are certainly going to look at her family, the people she had disputes with, I think there might be something to the fact that she was having an alleged affair with an underage boy. Could this possibly have something to do with that? This police report about that incident was private. It was confidential, because she was never charged in that case. So how did it get released? So, I think that might be something the police really are looking at, at this point.

LALAMA: Well, Kirstin, very quickly, how was it released?

KENNEDY: It was sent by e-mail to some of the school officials and then other members of the media. When I responded to the address, everything I sent came back as undeliverable.
 
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