TX - Nichol Olsen, 37, & 2 daughters, found shot dead inside mansion, Bexar County, 10 Jan 2019 #2

[inmyhumbleopinion]

From the article:

“The Bexar County Medical Examiner's office has ruled Olsen's death a suicide and the two young girls' deaths homicides.

‘The fact that Nichol Olsen's death, right now, has been ruled a suicide, we can't just say that, 'Oh, well then she must've been the one who did this to these two little girls,’ Salazar said. ‘We still have to go out and find out who it was that killed these two young ladies."

“The sheriff said investigators are working to determine who killed the two children.

‘We owe it to the public and to the victims in the case, and their families, of course, to continue this investigation,’ Salazar said during a Jan. 14 news conference. ‘We can't just say, 'Well, this is what the medical examiner says, case closed.' We've still got two murder investigations, at least at this point, on these two young ladies. We have to find out who it is.’”
Here's everything we know about the Anaqua Springs triple shooting

I have no reason to question the competence or integrity of the ME’s office or LE (I am very pleased that Sheriff Salazar requested the FBI’s assistance) in this case.

And personally, I don’t believe they would go to such great lengths (e.g., “investigators are also looking into technology in the home, including voice-activated home assistant devices”) just to appease those who do not agree with the ME’s medical opinion (“... the Medical Examiner strives to serve the public ... by providing objective, valid and unbiased medical opinions on cause and manner of death”) as to how NO and the girls died.
Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and Toxicology Laboratory

I can’t think of a murder-suicide case in which the person(s) murdered was found to have been killed by someone other than the person who committed suicide. But based on the statements he has made, such as the ones above and others, the sheriff appears to be considering that a real possibility. Why?

 

[MyBelle]

From the article:

“The Bexar County Medical Examiner's office has ruled Olsen's death a suicide and the two young girls' deaths homicides.

‘The fact that Nichol Olsen's death, right now, has been ruled a suicide, we can't just say that, 'Oh, well then she must've been the one who did this to these two little girls,’ Salazar said. ‘We still have to go out and find out who it was that killed these two young ladies."

“The sheriff said investigators are working to determine who killed the two children.

‘We owe it to the public and to the victims in the case, and their families, of course, to continue this investigation,’ Salazar said during a Jan. 14 news conference. ‘We can't just say, 'Well, this is what the medical examiner says, case closed.' We've still got two murder investigations, at least at this point, on these two young ladies. We have to find out who it is.’”
Here's everything we know about the Anaqua Springs triple shooting

I have no reason to question the competence or integrity of the ME’s office or LE (I am very pleased that Sheriff Salazar requested the FBI’s assistance) in this case.

And personally, I don’t believe they would go to such great lengths (e.g., “investigators are also looking into technology in the home, including voice-activated home assistant devices”) just to appease those who do not agree with the ME’s medical opinion (“... the Medical Examiner strives to serve the public ... by providing objective, valid and unbiased medical opinions on cause and manner of death”) as to how NO and the girls died.
Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and Toxicology Laboratory

I can’t think of a murder-suicide case in which the person(s) murdered was found to have been killed by someone other than the person who committed suicide. But based on the statements he has made, such as the ones above and others, the sheriff appears to be considering that a real possibility. Why?

My guess is pure politics and P.R. He is trying hard to appear that he actually "cares."

Meanwhile, the silence from both the ME and DA offices speaks volumes.

JMO

 

[MyBelle]

In addition, I thought that HIPPA law actually covers people after death. This is releasing protected health information. Should only be released with signature form next of kin...that is standard for hospitals, .maybe an autopsy is different...
Health Information of Deceased Individuals

Release of autopsy records are usually covered under state statute.
JMO

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Just watched a COLD JUSTICE episode last night. ME called a suicide, which turned out to be a murder. I adore Kelly Siegler, who is one of my favorite Texans, and she busted the cold case. I admit the evidence so far is about 50/50. But I just keep coming back to the stats. And that's the man. When I told my sister and my husband about this case, they both said automatically, "The boyfriend did it." It's the only logical answer. If it turns out NO did it, I'll admit I was wrong. But I'm waiting. (I love how those who argue CW has been maligned, think nothing of *advertiser censored*-shaming and judging NO's mothering skills . Such hypocrisy.)

IMHO.

Could this be the episode you are talking about?

“The 2001 death of Pam Shelly in Cuero, Texas, is investigated. After divorcing her husband, Pam began dating Ronnie Hendrick, an old family friend. They fell in love, and she moved with her children from Arkansas to Texas to live with him. Their love affair went from passionate to volatile to combative. One day, after an argument, Ronnie reportedly pushed Pam's daughter, Kayla. Enraged and constantly fighting him, Pam said she was leaving for good. After packing, she was in the bathroom when her daughter said she heard a scream and ran to find Pam on the floor with a gunshot wound to her head. Pam later died in the hospital, and her case was ruled a suicide. On September 10, 2013, Ronnie Hendrick pled guilty to killing Pamela and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.“ (BBM)
List of Cold Justice episodes - Wikipedia

I also found these articles:
“DeWitt County deputy who cracked cold case named lawman of the year”

“When Sgt. Carl Bowen accepted the job of investigator at the DeWitt County Sheriff's Office in 2005, he immediately asked whether he could reopen a case that had originally been ruled a suicide.

Often, a suicide is a suicide, he said, but this one in 2001 had stuck with him. It felt different.

[SBM]

[Pam] Shelly's daughter found her and originally thought she'd been beaten up by Hendrick.

Shelly had actually been shot once in the head with [Ronnie] Hendrick's rifle.

[SBM]

One reason the investigation stalled, [Sheriff Jode] Zavesky said, is because Shelly was flown by helicopter to be treated in San Antonio, where she later died. There, Hendrick's family claimed she had been depressed and had likely taken her own life. Then, Hendrick left the state.

Their statements did not coincide with what deputies found at the scene: A vehicle packed with Shelly's belongings.

Zavesky later learned the couple had a rocky relationship that had come to a head. Shelly was trying to move to Arkansas with her children.

[SBM]

He [DeWitt County District Attorney Michael Sheppard] recalled how Bowen, armed with additional evidence, convinced the medical examiner who had initially ruled Shelly's death a suicide to reconsider.

‘Sometimes, you have a victim's family pressing you and other people pressing you to do something in a case. In this case, the victim's family was a 1,000 miles away and was not in a position to push law enforcement one way or the other,’ Sheppard said. ‘He was only motivated by his desires. ... He worked on it because he thought it was the right thing to do.’”
DeWitt County deputy who cracked cold case named lawman of the year

“TNT Reality Show ‘Cold Justice’ Gets Murder Confession”
TNT Reality Show 'Cold Justice' Gets Murder Confession

 

[BaffleMe]

From the article:

“The Bexar County Medical Examiner's office has ruled Olsen's death a suicide and the two young girls' deaths homicides.

‘The fact that Nichol Olsen's death, right now, has been ruled a suicide, we can't just say that, 'Oh, well then she must've been the one who did this to these two little girls,’ Salazar said. ‘We still have to go out and find out who it was that killed these two young ladies."

“The sheriff said investigators are working to determine who killed the two children.

‘We owe it to the public and to the victims in the case, and their families, of course, to continue this investigation,’ Salazar said during a Jan. 14 news conference. ‘We can't just say, 'Well, this is what the medical examiner says, case closed.' We've still got two murder investigations, at least at this point, on these two young ladies. We have to find out who it is.’”
Here's everything we know about the Anaqua Springs triple shooting

I have no reason to question the competence or integrity of the ME’s office or LE (I am very pleased that Sheriff Salazar requested the FBI’s assistance) in this case.

And personally, I don’t believe they would go to such great lengths (e.g., “investigators are also looking into technology in the home, including voice-activated home assistant devices”) just to appease those who do not agree with the ME’s medical opinion (“... the Medical Examiner strives to serve the public ... by providing objective, valid and unbiased medical opinions on cause and manner of death”) as to how NO and the girls died.
Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and Toxicology Laboratory

I can’t think of a murder-suicide case in which the person(s) murdered was found to have been killed by someone other than the person who committed suicide. But based on the statements he has made, such as the ones above and others, the sheriff appears to be considering that a real possibility. Why?

Something seemed odd at the crime scene? But what? (My guess)

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Something seemed odd at the crime scene? But what? (My guess)

That’s definitely a possibility, IMO.

I find the following interesting also:
“Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters at a press conference the two girls appear to have been killed, although it is too early to speculate if the third victim, identified as 37-year-old Nichol Leila Olsen by the San Antonio Express-News, died as a result of homicide or suicide. All three had died from gunshot wounds.

‘We’re hoping as this investigation unfolds it will be able to shed more light on not only what was going on last night, but also what may have happened this morning,’ Salazar said. He added that all three victims were related to each other but did not confirm how.”
Woman and two girls found dead at mansion inside Texas gated community

“Salazar said the girls’ deaths appeared to be homicides, but investigators are reserving judgment on whether the woman’s death was a homicide or suicide pending further investigation.”
State briefs

What would make it more difficult to tell if a death was due to a homicide or suicide?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Interesting read, IMO:
“FBI report: Mysterious Chicago cop death ‘is best certified as a homicide’”

“A pathologist enlisted by the FBI to reexamine the mysterious death of Chicago police Sgt. Donald Markham from a gunshot wound to the head states his case very clearly in a report released Thursday:

[SBM]

‘The findings and observations at the scene of his death are inconsistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,’ the FBI expert wrote. ‘The manner of death is best certified as a homicide, or death at the hands of another.’

[SBM]

Among [Dr. J. Scott] Denton’s findings:

• ‘The blood flow pattern’ on Markham’s face ‘in the scene photos is inconsistent with the position of his head as shown.’

• ‘It is very concerning that the right hand and wrist are below and even partially under the left forearm that crosses over his chest . . . It is also very unreasonable to believe that Sgt. Markham was able to shoot himself in the right side of his head and then carry or transport the gun within his right hand to the left side of his body and cover it with his left arm . . . . Therefore the position of the gun in his right hand that is at the left side of his body . . . appears to have been manipulated after his death.’

• Markham’s fingers ‘showed no injuries or impression from the trigger guard.’

• With three of the Markhams’ five children at home, someone would have heard the gun fired: ‘It is difficult to understand how no one inside the house heard the gunshot wound unless an object muffled the sound of the gunshot.’

The FBI expert’s report takes aim at how the police and the medical examiner’s office reached the suicide conclusion: ‘It is also a matter of potential bias in the determination of manner of death that the scene investigation photographer’s placard and initial investigation reports all indicate that Sergeant Markham’s death was a suicide before a critical evaluation of the circumstances of his death was performed.

‘In my experience, once a determination is established quickly at the scene,” Denton wrote, ‘it is difficult to change course and start an investigation over from the beginning without a preconceived and a continued confirmation bias, even after the autopsy and further investigation.’

[SBM]

The Chicago Police Department and the medical examiner’s office, headed by Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, have stood by their findings despite an extraordinary meeting last month at which the FBI urged it to reconsider.

[SBM]”
FBI report: Mysterious Chicago cop death ‘is best certified as a homicide’

 

[Via Marple]

Here's everything we know about the Anaqua Springs triple shooting

JANUARY 28, 2019, 4:53 PM

ETA: “[SBM]

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's office has ruled Olsen's death a suicide and the two young girls' deaths homicides.

‘The fact that Nichol Olsen's death, right now, has been ruled a suicide, we can't just say that, 'Oh, well then she must've been the one who did this to these two little girls,'" Salazar said. ‘We still have to go out and find out who it was that killed these two young ladies."

On Jan. 22, Salazar announced the FBI would join in the investigation into the deaths.

Here's everything we know about the case so far...

[SBM]

Salazar said the trio was discovered by Olsen's boyfriend that morning [Jan. 10th]. According to the sheriff, the boyfriend had stayed somewhere else the night before. Authorities said that the boyfriend was cooperating with authorities and that he was ‘understandably upset" about their deaths.

‘We talked about cellphone tower technology -- that's going to go a long way in showing, at least, where his cellphone and then GPS on his vehicle -- it'll tell us where those two items were, and then we'll have to continue investigating to see if he was in possession of those two items."

[SBM]

Why isn’t KSAT naming the boyfriend?
Authorities said he is not a suspect in the case and that while he is a person of interest, there are multiple persons of interest. Additionally, he is not charged with any crime.

[SBM]

Friends tell KSAT that Olsen was a hairdresser who loved her children. Many are skeptical that their friend would kill her two children, let alone herself.

[SBM]

[London] Bribiescas was the last to be identified by the medical examiner's office as they were awaiting a confirmation of identity through dental records.

[SBM]

According to the Bexar County Medical Examiner, both Olsen and Montez died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Bribiescas died from a gunshot wound to the neck and head, the medical examiner said.

The sheriff said investigators are working to determine who killed the two children.

[SBM]

On Jan. 22, the Sheriff's Office announced the FBI would be assisting in their investigation into the girls' deaths.

[SBM]

BCSO investigators met with FBI officials on Friday and shared their investigative materials with the agency, the sheriff said Monday. Additionally, the sheriff said the FBI is an equal partner in the investigation.

‘My understanding is they're combing through that evidence and getting it to whatever experts they deem are the right experts to look at it, and then they're going to get back with us at a certain point and we'll proceed together,’ Salazar said.

Salazar said investigators are reviewing neighbors' surveillance video, gunshot residue evidence, social media accounts for all involved, cellphone records, text messages and more.

Salazar told KTSA that investigators are also looking into technology in the home, including voice-activated home assistant devices.

On Monday, the sheriff said there was no new information to share about the triple shooting, or what investigators have learned so far.“ (BBM: Things I wasn’t aware of before.)

Wouldn't it be ironic if the home assistant was Amazon Alexa?
Alexa keeps a recording of everything you tell her: Here's how to delete it

Then it would have recorded lines like (in my speculation):
Alexa get out of the way!
Alexa don't come near!

Or

Alexa don't move
Alexa I am sorry I am doing it to you (BANG)

 

[ilovechili]

I think there are mainly 3 voice activated 'assistants' on the market - Google home, Apple's Siri, and Amazon's Alexa. You issue a command starting with 'Alexa', followed by tasks like play music, switch on lights etc. With Google... you can ask a question like on other devices.

Apparently they record all your commands. Sometimes, 'accidentally'.

Yes, I know of someone who was talking amongst themselves about the movie they were going to go see. They walked back in the house hours later and Alexa asked them how the movie was and if they enjoyed it...

imo you can keep that creepy stuff.

ETA: To relate this, it might be surprising what is found on such things if one was present...

 

[not-starving actress]

From San Antonio press, 1/28 . . . last paragraph of news article:

1. Salazar told KTSA that investigators are also looking into technology in the home, including voice-activated home assistant devices.
   
   On Monday, the sheriff said there was no new information to share about the triple shooting, or what investigators have learned so far.“ (BBM: Things I wasn’t aware of before.)
   Wouldn't it be ironic if the home assistant was Amazon Alexa?
   Alexa keeps a recording of everything you tell her: Here's how to delete it
   
   Then it would have recorded lines like (in my speculation):
   Alexa get out of the way!
   Alexa don't come near!
   Or
   Alexa don't move
   Alexa I am sorry I am doing it to you (BANG)I've never heard of Amazon Alexa before. Don't understand the tech
2. 
   
3. (my comment, thinking I was emailing you)
4. ↑
   I've never heard of Amazon Alexa before. Don't understand the tech.
   
   <mod snip rumor>
   I think there are mainly 3 voice activated 'assistants' on the market - Google home, Apple's Siri, and Amazon's Alexa. You issue a command starting with 'Alexa', followed by tasks like play music, switch on lights etc. With Google... you can ask a question like on other devices.
   
   Apparently they record all your commands. Sometimes, 'accidentally'.
5. ↑
   I think there are mainly 3 voice activated 'assistants' on the market - Google home, Apple's Siri, and Amazon's Alexa. You issue a command starting with 'Alexa', followed by tasks like play music, switch on lights etc. With Google... you can ask a question like on other devices.
   
   Apparently they record all your commands. Sometimes, 'accidentally'.
   Yes, I know of someone who was talking amongst themselves about the movie they were going to go see. They walked back in the house hours later and Alexa asked them how the movie was and if they enjoyed it...
   
   imo you can keep that creepy stuff.
   
   ETA: To relate this, it might be surprising what is found on such things if one was present...
   

 

[Via Marple]

1 + 2 = 3.
1) Read the last comment on the previously linked San Antonio News, read the posters' explanation of Amazon Alexa, and recall the multiple press reports that Alexa was using Social Media earlier in the night of her murder.

2) Know that the FBI had to be called in to immediately subpoena all electronic data and to have it analyzed in their top level HQ in Langley VA.

3) Arrest.

That would have been a long shot, at this stage

 

[Orgona]

Could this be the episode you are talking about?

“The 2001 death of Pam Shelly in Cuero, Texas, is investigated. After divorcing her husband, Pam began dating Ronnie Hendrick, an old family friend. They fell in love, and she moved with her children from Arkansas to Texas to live with him. Their love affair went from passionate to volatile to combative. One day, after an argument, Ronnie reportedly pushed Pam's daughter, Kayla. Enraged and constantly fighting him, Pam said she was leaving for good. After packing, she was in the bathroom when her daughter said she heard a scream and ran to find Pam on the floor with a gunshot wound to her head. Pam later died in the hospital, and her case was ruled a suicide. On September 10, 2013, Ronnie Hendrick pled guilty to killing Pamela and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.“ (BBM)
List of Cold Justice episodes - Wikipedia

RSBM for space.

I’m not directing this to you, only using this article as the starter point of my musing...

I think in a case where the the victim is transported to the hospital is much more difficult to reconstruct what has transpired because the first responders were doing their job to save the victim so the scene got disturbed. I don’t know if the first responders are trained to preserve such a scene, but when saving somebody’s life you have to get close to that person and first of all be busy with the victim.
Many or maybe even most of those cases can be solved too, because many times there are other pieces of the puzzle which will help crack the case.

Suicide is many times unexpected. I lost a good friend to suicide and I had no idea he was struggling. He was very good in hiding that side of him. He was actually the sunshine in everyone’s life. Always laughing and making everyone laugh and generally giving a good, happy vibe. Even when we were vacationing together and were a lot around each oder day and night we could not see anything wrong. Shortly after he took his own life. Unreal.
Sometimes people are just done with the life they are living because of some (sudden) mental breakdown, open or hidden depression, because of drugs taken( legal or illegal), sudden changes in circumstances wich scares them or many other things which we can’t know or can’t comprehend as being a giant problem.

How this case is going to pan out we have to wait and see. I don’t think anybody was transported to the hospital (at least I don’t remember reading that), so at least they should have a more complete crime scene.

I don’t see why CW would murder NO and her daughters, he could just have sent them on their way in case the relationship wasn’t working for him anymore. But stranger things have happened so I just have to wait and see. At this moment I believe the conclusion of the ME. Eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the investigation.

 

[Starkville]

If they had Amazon Alexa at the home, they must have been triggering it constantly just by talking to or about the human Alexa! That would be annoying to me.

Also, I only know about Amazon Alexa from a friend who has it. In a small Manhattan apartment, it picks up commands decently. In a sprawling house such as CW’s, wouldn’t they have to have several?

 

[bears10]

1 + 2 = 3.
1) Read the last comment on the previously linked San Antonio News, read the posters' explanation of Amazon Alexa, and recall the multiple press reports that Alexa was using Social Media earlier in the night of her murder.

2) Know that the FBI had to be called in to immediately subpoena all electronic data and to have it analyzed in their top level HQ in Langley VA.

3) Arrest.

Huh?

 

[dalsglen]

If they had Amazon Alexa at the home, they must have been triggering it constantly just by talking to or about the human Alexa! That would be annoying to me.

Also, I only know about Amazon Alexa from a friend who has it. In a small Manhattan apartment, it picks up commands decently. In a sprawling house such as CW’s, wouldn’t they have to have several?

Granted my house is only about 110 square meters but my alexa can pick up commands from the opposite side of the house upstairs. My daughter had her friend lexie round the other day, drove me nuts.
Also Guess I better stop chatting to myself when I'm home alone lol

 

[cybervampira]

If they had Amazon Alexa at the home, they must have been triggering it constantly just by talking to or about the human Alexa! That would be annoying to me.

Also, I only know about Amazon Alexa from a friend who has it. In a small Manhattan apartment, it picks up commands decently. In a sprawling house such as CW’s, wouldn’t they have to have several?

Not if you change the wake word in the settings. Possible choices are Amazon, Echo, or Computer.

And yes, I have 3 Alexas and I could use 5 if I wanted Alexa to always listen in a residence that likely is smaller than CW‘s.

 

[NervousNellie]

The Amazon device is called an Echo; the virtual assistant you talk to is called Alexa by default, but you can change the name of the virtual assistant. If they did have the Echo device(s?), IMO, they would have used a different name for the assistant.

That said, our device sometimes thinks we have said her name when we have not, so it’s possible that, even if they used a different name, there could be information saved to help the investigation.

 

[cybervampira]

The Amazon device is called an Echo; the virtual assistant you talk to is called Alexa by default, but you can change the name of the virtual assistant. If they did have the Echo device(s?), IMO, they would have used a different name for the assistant.

That said, our device sometimes thinks we have said her name when we have not, so it’s possible that, even if they used a different name, there could be information saved to help the investigation.

Correct. I doubt they had Alexa as wake word if they had one or several Echos (or Echo dots).

It sometimes happens that Alexa (Echo) reacts when my TV is on or when I’m talking to someone and a similar word is spoken.

 

[Doh]

That’s definitely a possibility, IMO.

I find the following interesting also:
“Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters at a press conference the two girls appear to have been killed, although it is too early to speculate if the third victim, identified as 37-year-old Nichol Leila Olsen by the San Antonio Express-News, died as a result of homicide or suicide. All three had died from gunshot wounds.

‘We’re hoping as this investigation unfolds it will be able to shed more light on not only what was going on last night, but also what may have happened this morning,’ Salazar said. He added that all three victims were related to each other but did not confirm how.”
Woman and two girls found dead at mansion inside Texas gated community

“Salazar said the girls’ deaths appeared to be homicides, but investigators are reserving judgment on whether the woman’s death was a homicide or suicide pending further investigation.”
State briefs

What would make it more difficult to tell if a death was due to a homicide or suicide?

This statement was prior to medical examiners ruling.

 

[BaffleMe]

That’s definitely a possibility, IMO.

I find the following interesting also:
“Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters at a press conference the two girls appear to have been killed, although it is too early to speculate if the third victim, identified as 37-year-old Nichol Leila Olsen by the San Antonio Express-News, died as a result of homicide or suicide. All three had died from gunshot wounds.

‘We’re hoping as this investigation unfolds it will be able to shed more light on not only what was going on last night, but also what may have happened this morning,’ Salazar said. He added that all three victims were related to each other but did not confirm how.”
Woman and two girls found dead at mansion inside Texas gated community

“Salazar said the girls’ deaths appeared to be homicides, but investigators are reserving judgment on whether the woman’s death was a homicide or suicide pending further investigation.”
State briefs

What would make it more difficult to tell if a death was due to a homicide or suicide?

Forensics don't match up? Interesting he mentions the night before and the morning.