Why do the police swoop in when they do? If the cops were watching him for a couple of weeks prior, what informs their timing with when to go in and get him? The cops taking the car or searching the house-sit home seems pivotal to the charge of murder the very next day. PS surely would’ve scrubbed his car.
That's a really good question!
Just to get some dates happening here:
- Sunday, Feb 4: SM goes on a run and doesn't return home
2.5 weeks later ..
- Wednesday, Feb 21: VicPol starts surveillance on suspect (21st Feb is 2 weeks prior to arrest)
1 week later ..
- Wednesday, Feb 28: Under Investigation is shown on tv
1 week later ..
- Wednesday, Mar 6: Suspect is arrested
- Thursday, Mar 7: Suspect is charged with murder of SM
My guesses would be:
The police ..
- could have been waiting on further information from phone pings from the Mt Clear area along with other possible locations using sim & IMEI recognition (Edit: also info from Apple??)
- the amount of cctv footage was huge and they possibly didn't get exactly what they were after for a couple of weeks
- reviewing information provided to Crime Stoppers by locals who had their suspicions on various persons
- selecting potential suspects and having a look at their history/s. If my memory serves me correctly, I recall
the police stated(about 1 - 1.5 weeks into the investigations) that they were looking at local sex offenders & people
with violent histories.
Once they'd gathered enough information, collated it and nailed the potential suspect, they swooped.
OR perhaps someone close to the suspect knew what he'd done and their conscience got the better of them ... or they became very nervous with all the publicity and decided it was time inform the police of what they knew.
Edit: Depending on the amount of blood/tissue, it would be virtually impossible for him to remove it from his car and
I'm sure the police/forensics would have no problem finding small traces.
MOO
Edited: to include a couple of bits I missed