I think there is a difference between my thinking of "SM wanted to go away with Heather" and your thinking of SM had " love and respect for Heather". To me, there is such a thing as running away with someone where you think things will be better, to escape somewhere else where things are not good. That doesn't always equate to love and respect. It sometimes equates to lust and escape. Just a difference of view in this one area.
I understand your point regarding malice aforethought; my thinking, however, is that unless LE has evidence (and they might, we don't know) of plans to kill Heather, or an actual setup for Heather to go to PTL with plans to kill her, it's just a charge to work with. That happens all the time. It's the spaghetti theory: through it at the wall and see what sticks. Scare the perp(s) (or alleged perp(s) ). Bargain it down in exchange for information. Accidental is just as likely without any evidence to the contrary. But I am also using the following as a possible definition of Malice Aforethought:a general evil and depraved state of mind in which the person is unconcerned for the lives of others. Thus, if a person uses a gun to hold up a bank and an innocent bystander is killed in a shoot-out with police, there is malice aforethought.
http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1198 My interpretation of this would be if TM hit Heather with a metal pipe and didn't care if she killed her, it's malice aforethought.
I am keeping an open mind to other possibilities that cannot be ruled out with the current facts known by the public. I can think of dozens of scenarios, most of which have both guilty, some of which have only one guilty (and the theories are thin, yes), some of which have one as an accessory after the fact. I'd like to think others have those theories, too.
I am really curious as to what people think happened in 3-6 minutes at PTL. Was there a way for one of them to have been there first? Did both arrive in the black truck? Was Heather taken away by one M or both, and was she really deceased at that time, or was that statement more spaghetti at the wall? If they took her away, how? And could there have been a third (or fourth) person involved at PTL?
In my ideal thread, everyone can have a theory, no matter how weird, and people will say why they do or don't think that will work in a polite and respectful way (or ignore it and move on), using both factual information and opinion, specifying which is which. I'd really like to know the kinds of theories that are out there.