Three points before concluding for the night:
1.) I'm struck that the dog didn't bark in response to the shots. Or other dogs in the neighborhood! Everything just goes silent. I also wonder where the dog was in the aftermath. From the raw footage of the news chopper, neither the husband nor his mother have it. Maybe a neighbor? In a squad car?
2.) Speaking of cars, I listened to the Dateline segment again and was struck once again about timing. Dateline's caption states that the husband was told on his way to work that he needed to get to the hospital. This caption is superimposed on video of the husband at the scene standing next to his mother and neighbors. I'm guessing from the angle of the sun that this is after 9am but before noon. It's definitely sometime after his mother first arrives, because in original news footage, she arrives with wet hair and it's had time to dry before the Dateline shot.
Dateline then cuts to the husband, who says he "was holding her hand the entire time and [he] said 'I love you. And I'll never forget you.' And [he] just...slowly let her go."
I think it's Dateline's editing that makes this moment seem odd, because it implies he went straight to the hospital and said he'd never forget her. We know this isn't accurate because he returns home and--per the news footage--is pulled aside by LE (first outside cruiser, then next to it) and later joins his mom and neighbors outside the house.
On the other hand, it is a bit odd that he wouldn't actually do what Dateline implies, which would be to race to wherever she's being medevaced. There's just not enough time for him to have had that particular encounter where he holds her hand, then return to the house.
Something is off about this whole thing, including bad edits.
3.) I'm now beginning to reassess my earlier assumption that the driver knew the neighborhood.
Until this new doorbell cam footage, I had always assumed that the shooter had driven up to the house from the opposite (west) direction. Instead, the truck comes from the east, makes a u-turn at the Smoke Lake intersection, then parks facing the wrong direction on the north side of Cedar Walk.
It's bonkers to me that someone would hazard making so many turns with lights on in a pre-dawn neighborhood, park in such a conspicuous way, then circle back once again to presumably exit from the west.
I can understand not approaching from the west, because then you'd have to wait either at an intersection or in a cul-de-sac, both of which seem riskier spots. I also understand parking on the north side of the street, particularly if we assume the shooter had knowledge of the doorbell cam. Without this knowledge, why wouldn't you just park where the husband had just departed if the guise of yard sale attendance is already set up for you? But why then pop a u-turn when you could park in the exact same place and have quick access to the driver's side door, then book it out of there by hanging a right on Smoke Lake, then another right on Sorrel Meadows?
Now, we don't know in which direction the husband left for work, but I think it's reasonable to assume most people would rather get to a main artery quickly rather than wind through a neighborhood, particularly if they are heading south. If the husband took the straight shot to Kuykendahl, he'd head east and therefore pass within inches of the shooter's truck. That's supremely more risky, especially considering the husband's age, location, and general interest make him a great candidate for owning a dash cam.
So, to quickly recap the movements, the shooter:
- idles on the northeast side of Cedar Walk waiting for the husband to leave
- drives rather aggressively to the Smoke Lake intersection after potentially passing the husband
- pops a u-turn and throws it into park on the wrong side of Cedar Walk
- gets out of the vehicle and crosses the street at almost a jog
- runs up to Liz and interacts with her for ~20 seconds
- shoots Liz three times and does not flee immediately despite the sound of the gunshots and her screams
- moves closer to her and shoots her a fourth time
- turns around and runs across the street (I think there is indeed a wig malfunction at this point)
- gets back into the truck and speeds west toward the intersection with Princeton
- pulls another u-turn OR continues in a loop back to the house via Oconee and Sandusky
- drives by the house a third and final time
- exits the neighborhood in a way that takes the truck past the intersection with Gilbough (security cam pic in color with visible dawn)
This final bullet point drives me nuts. Gilbough is the WORST possible point for the shooter to pass because--and I cannot stress this enough--a former Harris County Sheriff's Deputy resides on that street. What kind of two-bit wannabe assassin cases their victim's house ahead of time, but fails to check Google Street View to see a very visible sheriff's vehicle?
Lots more thoughts rattlin' around, but those are for another day.
