The Springfield Three--missing since June 1992 - #4

[Bartt Streeter]

Should we have a suspect thread on Garrison, for a place to keep links and such and for a general overview?

I was trying to go directly to a Post # and hit the report button on this post, I apologize.

Bartt

 

[Bartt Streeter]

Regarding Garrison, I would suggest checking post #12 and post #20 in the first thread of this case and tying the latter to Garrison. I am reasonably certain the person posting was speaking from direct knowledge and the information was valid based on the rather exact wording of the post. He surely was speaking of Garrison. He posts again in post #59 regarding possible burial sites. Seems confident of the facts as he knows them.

Post #81 is helpful as is post #83, 87 & #89.

On a side note, I have puzzled over post #12 for a long time and it still puzzles me. Post #71 also interests me.

Link to this thread can be found at the bottom of this page.

What thread are you talking about?

 

[Bartt Streeter]

Sorry, bad morning first thread.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Should we have a suspect thread on Garrison, for a place to keep links and such and for a general overview?

I'm going on memory right now but the best information would be in the Springfield News-Leader back during the time he was involved in the rape of a college student in Springfield. Subsequently he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison in Missouri. During that time the unsolved rape was headline news. Unfortunately, the News-Leader didn't archive their news articles until 1999. What would be required would be for someone to to go the Springfield City Library and actually look up the news articles in the archived newspapers. There is no way to obtain this information off the internet that I am aware. It is possible that the Kansas City newspapers may have covered this as they archived and those articles are available for a nominal fee. In fact, it could be argued that they covered this crime better than did the local newspaper.

It never occurred to me that he was allegedly connected to this crime until his name surfaced in various places and through different sources. It has been a while since I delved into the Greene County docket sheets which would provide specific information on his flow through the criminal system and then onto prison. That would be a starting point to pin down the time period in question. Then a person would have to do the legwork to look through all of those old newspapers. I'd do it myself but am too far away to do this. In the end I don't know that it would yield up too much in the way of useful information.

At Air Alex, it has been said that his actual court proceedings were interrupted and order had to be restored or something to that effect. Actually I don't remember reading about that or hearing about it at the time so don't know if that is fact or concocted out of whole cloth. If we had someone here who has followed his "career path" from the early 1990s and could summarize things it would be helpful.

I believe his last name is also associated with "Anderson" and that may be an alias.

 

[Trooogrit]

Factual information about Garrison is out there in the snippets from those news articles. During his rape trial there was a threat made on his attorney and heavy police presence was in the court room after that. Garrison claimed he had no knowledge of the origin of the threats, but it appears to be an obvious attempt to intimidate his attorney and get him to withdraw as counsel. The previous attorneys had done this and it had delayed his rape trial. In the end the attorney proceded and he was sentenced to 40 years if I recall. He is also the confidential informant that took the police to the farm in Webster county where a search was done in 1993. He was the focus for a while. In 1995 Bartt was asked about Garrison at least it is quoted in the paper.

"Last year he returned to Springfield, sober and with his fiance Tabetha, looking for answers he said in a telephone interview this week.
First stop was the police department where the reception was less than warm. It was a familiar feeling.

"They stuck me in a room and interrogated me more or less" Streeter said.

Early on, he had been considered somehow linked to the vanishings. Apparently, investigators had not let go of that notion. They asked about a man named Steven Garrison who was among a small group of men that had long been a focus in the case.

Garrison, 37, is serving a 40 year sentence for raping and robbing a Springfield woman in 1993. He was thought to have information on the disappearences, but was never charged.

Bartt Streeter, told police he never met Garrison.

Last december a detective visited Streeter in Arkansas. The officer flashed a photograph and asked what Streeter knew about an army ranger named Robert Craig Cox." NL June 6, 1996

As far as the alias of Anderson I do not know where or when that was used, but it is listed as an alias in some searchs. He had others as well.

 

[Missouri Mule]

That's very useful information and I much appreciate your clearing this up. This has been batted around over at Air Alex and I simply didn't recall this although I'm sure I must have read it at the time and it didn't register as somehow linked to this case. Again, I want to express my sincere appreciation for this information.

I do believe, if the article is tightly written, it provides a glimpse into the investigation that Cox and Garrison were considered high up the food chain of suspects. Based on pure deduction it would seem that if we could ever find out who the caller from Florida was we would have a threesome who were directly or indirectly involved.

Not having the information at hand, do you know offhand the date of Garrison's trial? There should be a docket sheet at the courthouse which, at one time, was available on-line over the internet and it would provide the particulars of the case, trial dates, sentencing and so forth. What could also be of some interest, although I do not see a connection at this point, would be to see the actual court transcript which would show all the evidence, testimony and witnesses. They can be tedious to wade through but sometimes yield up important information.

Just off the top of my head, it appears that if threats were made on his court appointed attorneys (?) it would appear that these threats came from someone outside Garrison's circle inside the jail where he would have been kept. That looks to me an interesting avenue of endeavor. Who had the motive to disrupt the trial?

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Here's a question: If we presume, for the purpose of this discussion, that Suzie was indeed seen in the van, driving, then why WOULD she be driving? The only reason I can think of is that there was one perpetrator and he couldn't drive and manage all three women. He could, however, have bound two, loaded them in the van, and then forced Suzie to drive by keeping a gun on her. If there were others involved, there would have been no need to risk anyone seeing Suzie in the van. Even just one accomplice could have controlled three women who were bound or handcuffed in some way. Just something to start us thinking again, having read the posts MM pointed out above.

Good to see you back, Bartt. I found the link to the Airalex page that shows the jewelry found in that old house. Here it is, if you want to take a look at the stuff and see if you recognize it:
http://airalex.homestead.com/PETITION.html

You have to scroll down to the "Mysteries of the Woodson House" section.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Here's a question: If we presume, for the purpose of this discussion, that Suzie was indeed seen in the van, driving, then why WOULD she be driving? The only reason I can think of is that there was one perpetrator and he couldn't drive and manage all three women. He could, however, have bound two, loaded them in the van, and then forced Suzie to drive by keeping a gun on her. If there were others involved, there would have been no need to risk anyone seeing Suzie in the van. Even just one accomplice could have controlled three women who were bound or handcuffed in some way. Just something to start us thinking again, having read the posts MM pointed out above.

Good to see you back, Bartt. I found the link to the Airalex page that shows the jewelry found in that old house. Here it is, if you want to take a look at the stuff and see if you recognize it:
http://airalex.homestead.com/PETITION.html

You have to scroll down to the "Mysteries of the Woodson House" section.

I essentially agree with this scenario. However, it seems to me that at some point in time that Suzie would have had to have been temporarily immobilized and carried to the van. At the point that all three women were in the van, then Suzie would have been untied and told to drive with a gun trained on her. It is also relevant that this particular van had a unique position for the engine. It was actually inside the cabin of the vehicle covered by an engine cover but it would have extended up about two feet or so whereby a single perpetrator could have concealed himself in the passenger area where he could see the two helpless women in the back of the vehicle while keeping a gun trained on Suzie.

In the scenario I see it would include duct taping the women's mouths so they couldn't be heard and would have been hogtied with their ankles tied up around their upper torso they could be tossed around into the van with one hand somewhat like loading a sack of potatoes. It would have been unwieldy to have merely tying them up where they could kick their feet and offer at least passive resistance to being carried out to the van. It is possible that Suzie was not hog tied herself but was otherwise immobolized and being the last out of the home the globe was knocked loose and fell to the porch deck breaking it.

As Kathee opined, which I believe had great merit, the purses were inadvertently left behind especially after the globe was broken making a sound that may have hastened the perp's departure where he left the TV and VCR on, the door unlocked and the porch lamp burning. He was at that point operating on a narrowing window of opportunity to get out of there since sunrise would have been on him momentarily.

Using the best case scenario, the two girls arrived back at the Levitt home about 2:50 AM. By the time they got undressed and made ready to go to bed it was probably about 3:30 AM or even later. Sunrise was set to come up at 5:53 AM which left only about 2 hours and 20 minutes to accomplish everything that needed done. The two questions unanswered is how he gained entry and the other is the motive. It has been asserted that the agreed upon motive by the agencies that looked at it was "sexual assault" which supplies the motive. Any of the women could have been the target although most, apparently, believe Sherrill was the target. Obviously the question is why so late? So it is possible that someone like Cox or someone like him met one or more of the girls while out partying and simply followed them home. They struck up a conversation outside the home and they let him in not realizing they were dealing with a possible serial murderer who by common understanding is a confidence man who preys on those who are easily taken in by a good line of bulloney.

I believe that only one perpetrator was likely involved.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I'm no longer convinced that he cared about the purses, one way or the other. We have no idea how much stuff was moved around and by whom. There are many cases in which women's purses, wallets, cell phones and other effects were found in their cars or homes--at the point of abduction. If a psychopath and sexual sadist did this abduction, the women were the issue. Get in, do the abduction, and get out.

Think of it this way: the crime scene as it was discovered by friends, relatives and police has not yielded sufficient evidence to solve the crime--so that whatever was left or taken from the scene either didn't matter or confused the issue enough that no one has been caught.

 

[kemo]

When I first heard of this case, I thought of the Yosemite Murders. Cary Stayner was able to abduct three women by himself from their hotel room with no noise, disruption of the crime scene or forensic evidence. He did not know the women but he was an employee of the hotel.

I have no doubt that there was only one perp in Springfield. Having Suzanne drive pretty much settles this. Had there been an accomplice, one of them would have driven. I find it hard to believe that a perp would have planned to have one of them driven. I suspect this was not planned; it sort of went down.

The lack of evidence of forced entry suggests that someone opened the door and let the perp in. There are alternative explanations such as the back door was left open to vent the fumes but I think had a total stranger broke in, there would have been some sort of struggle. Someone they knew could have more easily established control over the situation.

If this was an acquaintance, how were they missed? I would think Suzie would have told all of her close friends about every boy she had any sort of relationship with. There aren't that many secrets among HS girlfriends. Sherrill, on the other hand, may have had male acquaintances no one other than Susie knew about. I think it would have been unlikely that the women would have opened the door for a friend of Stacy that they didn't know.

I think the fact that the blinds in Suzie's room were "cracked" is significant. Suzie kept her room very neat from what I saw and a "cracked" blind would stand out if she just left it there all day. The most like explanation would be that Suzie "cracked" the blinds to see who was pulling into the driveway.

When I first heard of this, I though it must have been a male acquaintance of Sherrill who felt very rejected or humiliated. Perhaps he was warned to "stay away from Suzie." I still think this is good a WAG as any.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Interesting post Kemo. I would ask a question, however and this is directed to anyone who wishes to opine. What IF these abductions had nothing whatever to do with Sherrill or Suzie but with Stacy?

From the very git-go we have been told that Stacy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps this was an impromptu act committed against Stacy and Sherill and Suzie were in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

I'm not at all satisfied with the way this case has been investigated. We have people eliminated at the highest levels who by normal police protocol should not have been. This is not to say that they had anything to do with this but if those with the authority already knew what went down they would also have known these guys were not involved.

I'm not concocting a theory made of whole cloth. I have two individuals in mind who concern me greatly with a possible motive. And I would further add that the mystical van may have been a huge and convenient smokescreen that only drew the case away from where it should have led using the facts to guide them to the perpetrators.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I ran across some information today in rereading some previously published accounts of this crime and I was unaware that Cox had slit his wrists in a failed suicide attempt prior to being sentenced for the robbery in Texas.

"At first Cox appeared to have an airtight alibi. His girlfriend confirmed that he was at church with her the morning the women disappeared.

But then in 1995 Cox was arrested for holding a gun on a 12-year-old girl during a robbery in Texas. Springfield police interviewed him again about the missing women. Cox implied, teased, suggested, but never confessed. His ex-girlfriend eventually recanted - Cox had asked her to lie for him, she testified to a grand jury.

But Springfield police never gathered enough evidence for an indictment. Cox, as though reading from a bad horror movie script, continued to play with detectives from his jail cell in Texas. He hinted he knew the women were dead and that they’re buried somewhere near Springfield.

Kathee Baird doesn’t think he’s bluffing. She says that on the morning Cox was to be sentenced for his Texas conviction he slit his wrists in a suicide attempt; a Texas Ranger later told Kathee that Cox had said, “as long as I’m in prison, murders like what happened to those women in Missouri won’t happen again.”...

(Snip)

http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&ID=33&mode=comments&new=1#view

 

[kemo]

If the door had been opened by one of the women to let the perp in, it was almost certainly not a "gentleman caller" for Stacy. We know Stacy was not dressed. If someone was admitted to the house, Stacy did not get dressed to "socialize". I also think this would exclude any of the boys they had seen at the parties that night.

The Van could/should have been the key clue to this case IF, and it is a big IF, Porch Lady is credible. If she wasn't, the search for the elusive van could have sent the whole investigation off the rails.

From what I have read, the search for the van became the main thrust of the investigation. SPD should have been able to track down every van that could have matched in all of southern MO. I know of two "hit&runs that were solved because people in the community reported to police neighbors or co-workers who drove similar cars. These were in larger metro areas and received less publicity than the Springfield women.

There are many explanations of what could have gone wrong and it is very likely too late to figure it out now. The FBI approach to solving a crime involves using a lot of resources and running down every lead rather than trusting anyone's "intuition". Attempting to locate every old green van in the state would be consistent with the FBI approach.

Besides the obvious similarities between this case and the the Yosemite case, the Yosemite case also involved a FBI style investigation that went totally off the rails. Stayner tossed out one of the victims wallets in the town of Modesto and the FBI had some local meth user in front of the Grand Jury when the crime was "accidentally" solved. It turned out that the FBI not only fell for a rather crude evidence "plant" but they failed to contact BOTH Taxi companies that serviced the community when the victim's car was found. Had they done that, a later death would have been prevented and considerable resources saved.

I think Cox (and Garrison and a few others) are great potential suspects but without something linking them to the crime, there is nothing. Cons play games; that is what people who have nothing else to do do. Cox is certainly capable of a triple murder (although has hasn't proven himself to be capable of actually pulling one off).

I feel this was the sort of case that SHOULD have been solved. My guess is that the perp was pretty much a local novice who, considering the effort spent investigating the case, should have been caught. It is the sort of case that people who know “things” talk. I suspect the perp was pretty careful and didn’t make too many mistakes and had a lot of luck working for him.

 

[Missouri Mule]

You've been a very powerful contributor to this forum. I would like to ask a question which really needs an answer which I have never satisfactorily heard a reasonable explanation.

At the very outset we have the information about Suzie's relationship with the grave robbers. Evidently her car was used as they raided some crypts where they got a small amount of gold which at that time was worth about $30 if my memory is correct. The two primary people (a third one was from Illinois) were seen on the "48 hour" program and one was heard or reported to have said he hoped the "b..... were dead" or words to that effect.

From what I understand the chief of police took it upon himself to personally eliminate them as suspects over a burger at lunch. Evidently this alienated some officers who disagreed with this approach. I can only imagine.

Can you offer an opinion why this would have been done and how it could be justified if this report is true? I can't think of a reason UNLESS he knew they couldn't have done the crime. Having said this I do not believe they were the abductors although I do believe that one or more of them could have gained access to the home that night due to their acquaintance with the victims.

I would be very much interested on your thinking regarding this matter.

 

[Indianagirl]

I was reading some old NL articles from the first year of the investigation recently and came across an interesting little tidbit:

"A witness said that at 6:30 to 7 a.m. on June 7 she saw a dusty gray-green van driven by someone that looked like Streeter. The witness said she heard a male voice say 'OK, don't make any silly moves, back up slowly and turn around.' He was wearing a yellow T-shirt."

This is the only article I've seen that mentions the male voices' shirt. I find it somewhat confusing, as she supposedly didn't see him? I'm guessing the statement means that she never saw him but a shirt on a human figure and figured it was the male voice?

Also interesting to note, Stacy was wearing a yellow shirt when she disappeared. Was it perhaps Stacy's yellow shirt porchlady saw?

In all honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this info. I guess it really just depends on how credible LE found porchlady to be. I'm stuck in the middle. I haven't seen enough info to prove or disprove the credibility of her sighting.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I was reading some old NL articles from the first year of the investigation recently and came across an interesting little tidbit:

"A witness said that at 6:30 to 7 a.m. on June 7 she saw a dusty gray-green van driven by someone that looked like Streeter. The witness said she heard a male voice say 'OK, don't make any silly moves, back up slowly and turn around.' He was wearing a yellow T-shirt."

This is the only article I've seen that mentions the male voices' shirt. I find it somewhat confusing, as she supposedly didn't see him? I'm guessing the statement means that she never saw him but a shirt on a human figure and figured it was the male voice?

Also interesting to note, Stacy was wearing a yellow shirt when she disappeared. Was it perhaps Stacy's yellow shirt porchlady saw?

In all honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this info. I guess it really just depends on how credible LE found porchlady to be. I'm stuck in the middle. I haven't seen enough info to prove or disprove the credibility of her sighting.

This whole business about the "porchlady" is one of confusion and uncertainty. As you correctly pointed out it would make sense that she saw the yellow shirt of Stacy. It has been my working assumption based on the make and model of the vehicle that if the abductor was sitting on the floorboard of the vehicle to right of the driver, the inboard engine would conceal him almost entirely. It is highly unlikely that the "porchlady" could have peered into the vehicle to have seen him. If the vehicle was moving he couldn't very well be standing up straight as he would lose his balance whenever it lurched over the roads. I think the whole account may be chasing a wild goose.

I don't think I have related this before but I will now. Back in 1992, I worked a couple of floors beneath a long time friend who had a great interest in this case. We used to discuss it all the time. She had a very good friend whose stepdaughter was indirectly involved in the case. One Saturday morning, as best I recall, I received a phone call from her and I recall that she said she was present during the hypnotism of this witness and that the witness became hysterical and the hypnotism session was cut short as a result. I also learned that the witness was deemed credible because she and her husband had had a used car lot and she recognized the make and model of the vehicle. I had long wondered why such an old vehicle, even in those days, would have been used. At least one detective is on record as stating he doesn't really believe that this sighting even took place as it sounded too staged to suit him as realistic. And as I recall, the witness did not make her presence known that she had observed the alleged van for a couple of weeks afterward, evidently based on a fear for her safety. I think we have to consider the very real possibility that this was not reliable information.

The reason I think this is important is because it is highly important that possible suspects be eliminated as soon as possible. If we dwell on this alleged van and shaky witness we may miss entirely what could have taken place at the home. And we also have the sighting of another older sedan in the vicinity which was possibly believed involved. I believe it was seen at a nearby gas station on the corner of Grand and Glenstone if my memory is correct. It is not impossible that there never was a van involved and that another vehicle was used during the abductions.

We also have to consider that there is no certain proof that the girls ever actually arrived at the home. That opens up an entirely new area of exploration. Personally, I am not convinced. That runs counter to conventional wisdom but it can't be ruled out of hand.

I guess when push comes to shove we will need someone who can actually come forth and provide the details of what took place that night. In the end we might find that we have never been on the right track from the beginning. Perhaps we'll get some new clues with the expected new episode of "Disappeared" to be aired in March, 2011.

I'm a broken record but I'd sure like to know who that caller from Jacksonville, Florida was.

 

[kemo]

I think two very critical "judgement calls" were made by the Chief with ore with out the concurrance of the other lead detectives:

1: the decision to either clear or downgrade the status of the Grave-robbers.
2: The decision that Porch Lady is credible and to focus on locating the elusive van.

These were "calls" that had to be made. A lot of information, evidence and the opinions of the ranking detectives had to be considered but ultimatly the Chief made his call. That is his job. There may have disagreements or perhaps just finger pointing after the fact. We may never know.

My only concern is that if the perp did live in the Springfield area and he did own the described van. it should have been located. If, as I speculated, the perp knew one of the women (probably Sherrill) he would probably live in the Springfield area. This leaves a number of possible explaitions but I am somewhat fixated on the possibility that the Perp may not have used a van as described.

One of the graverobbers could have done it. I don't know what their alibies are or how well they stood up to the questioning. They were pretty young and you wouldn't expect them to pull this off so well, but strranger things have happened.

 

[former central time]

I feel this was the sort of case that SHOULD have been solved. My guess is that the perp was pretty much a local novice who, considering the effort spent investigating the case, should have been caught. It is the sort of case that people who know “things” talk. I suspect the perp was pretty careful and didn’t make too many mistakes and had a lot of luck working for him.

Brilliant Kemo. So on board with you on this. I’ll get to that in my last point.

I too like these ideas you are bringing to the board and a couple of observations, to jump in to with here.

The porch lady issue. It has been very persistent point in this case, but even among investigators skepticism can be found. I question this part of the case as well, but for different reasons. As I have posted on another board, looking over historical meteorological records, a dense fog covered the Ozarks that morning, which only got more dense to as late as 8 AM. Based on what I’ve seen from that, I’m very skeptical what ANYONE would have seen in this time frame who was not within ten feet or less of the observer. I did Google the area I think that ’turn around’ occurred, that neighborhood has homes fairly close to each other, so, I’m open to the possibility of the physical exercise of ’porch lady’ and maybe such dialogue. But, as to what kind of detail she would have seen, is shaky.

That leads me to the next point, which is institutional in this case. A van MUST have been involved in this. Not a car, station wagon, pick-up and so on. I think it’s a comfortable thought because it seems only logical and what ’we would do.’ But, as criminal studies have revealed, eyewitness accounts can be very flawed. So, if it was a van, we know for a fact it was of early 1970’s vintage ? Not a contemporary ’mini van,’ of the era ? Personally, I’m terrible at spotting car make and models, to the point when it comes to identifying them in my normal life it can be nearly embarrassing. I stick to general types and colors (sedan, four door, compact and so on). But, in this case, I would be able to tell LE, if being interviewed, had I seen a vehicle, if it were contemporary or aged. I would have known the different between an early 90’s mini van and early 70’s van, agreed.

To initial point, you summed up so well, Kemo. I have long thought the perp(s) were handed a great stroke of luck and fate with this. There has been so much talk of this Empire of LE, involving agencies from local police to the Federal level. As if this beast was functioning like a well oiled machine. Personal observation tells me otherwise, and my experience in twenty years of working in the local media confirms it. Forget conspiracy, for, ordinary personality tensions, intra agency turf battles and pride are far more deadly. Yes, I know, the FBI investigates crimes of local jurisdictions, as do many state agencies. But, we all know our history of 50 or 60 years ago, the FBI investigating crimes in the South and how well that went over with local law enforcement. Hardly cozy, and such inter-establishment fighting only aided criminals. Not suggesting that kind dereliction of duty happened here, rather thousands of acts of, well, ’passivity,’ would do the trick.

Working in the media, I’ve interviewed my share of LE at various levels. On balance, they are devoted to duty without question, care about the work they do, and so on. We report on the specifics, ’…working in conjunction with local police (or the FBI)…following all leads…’ so on and so on. Again, I know state and federal agencies have a fiduciary function into local police matters. But, when the cameras are turned off, off the record, and privately, I’m inclined to believe, and have heard in many other circumstances, they’ll politely and quietly say, ’This is a local police matter.’ Or, to sense the resentment of local LE, with outside agencies coming in ’doing their job for them.’ This point can be extended with the fact that, for all those reading this outside of SW Missouri, how much of your federal tax dollars were spent on this investigation of a ’local police matter.’

All these dirty little realities are more likely than any conspiracy thing I can accept.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I think two very critical "judgment calls" were made by the Chief with ore with out the concurrence of the other lead detectives:

1: the decision to either clear or downgrade the status of the Grave-robbers.
2: The decision that Porch Lady is credible and to focus on locating the elusive van.

These were "calls" that had to be made. A lot of information, evidence and the opinions of the ranking detectives had to be considered but ultimately the Chief made his call. That is his job. There may have disagreements or perhaps just finger pointing after the fact. We may never know.

My only concern is that if the perp did live in the Springfield area and he did own the described van. it should have been located. If, as I speculated, the perp knew one of the women (probably Sherrill) he would probably live in the Springfield area. This leaves a number of possible explanations but I am somewhat fixated on the possibility that the Perp may not have used a van as described.

One of the grave robbers could have done it. I don't know what their alibis are or how well they stood up to the questioning. They were pretty young and you wouldn't expect them to pull this off so well, but stranger things have happened.

I could see that the chief might have made a call on the van. That was reasonable considering the lack of other credible leads. I suppose if I were in his shoes and the information landed on my desk I would respond that this seemed to be the best place to look. But not being the "fly on the wall" I don't know what other information might have landed there. On balance I don't have sharp disagreement over the van.

But I guess I would disagree that a call had to be made on the grave robbers. Either they had the opportunity to have committed the crime or they didn't. And some other veteran detectives evidently did not believe that that opportunity was eliminated. And even if they didn't have the opportunity they must also have to be eliminated as having any reasonable motive to involve others. When one is said to have wished them dead it at least raises a logical suspicion. "But officer, John Doe was a worthless so and so and deserved to die." Criminals will take every opportunity to justify their crimes on the bad or perceived bad behavior of others. I would not have eliminated them.

 

[Trooogrit]

Brilliant Kemo. So on board with you on this. I’ll get to that in my last point.

I too like these ideas you are bringing to the board and a couple of observations, to jump in to with here.

The porch lady issue. It has been very persistent point in this case, but even among investigators skepticism can be found. I question this part of the case as well, but for different reasons. As I have posted on another board, looking over historical meteorological records, a dense fog covered the Ozarks that morning, which only got more dense to as late as 8 AM.
quote]

I would like to see this information. I have used the old farmers almanac for that day and doesnt say there was a fog. The low tempature was 57 degrees on June 6 and 52 on June 7th. If there was a fog that morning then many of the witness accounts of colors could be skewed and darkness would have been later into the morning. That also would support the idea that porch lady lived on Grand east of the house and the turn that was missed and caused the turnaround. This at least points the direction that was taken out of town, and makes sense as to the missed turn.


quote]