I have only recently begun to wonder if it could be a teenage girl, with a teen boy driving the getaway vehicle. Any thoughts on that?
I in no way can see a teenager in gait nor smarts nor money to pull something of this magnitude off.
I'm leaning toward teenage boy due to strength involved in removing panic hardware, and also Batbrat's video analysis--agree that torso looks more male, proportionately.
I have seen teenagers with both a hunch and that turnout gait; in fact, I raised one.
Even a teenage boy can have a hunchback if he is a gamer and/or inherits a propensity to that condition. Also speaking from experience, it doesn't necessarily mean such a person is nonathletic or clumsy. After watching the slow-motion video and several freeze-frames, I'm attributing that gait to a developmental condition, such as the orthopedist's opinion upthread (pelvic tilt) - he throws oddly from the hip when walking; it's not simply a foot issue, IMO. It doesn't take a whole lot of smarts to kill someone in a SWAT suit, nor money, necessarily, especially if someone is provided the SWAT outfit as well as background info, tools, and know-how. This person is not below-average in intelligence, probably, but I haven't seen anything to make me think he's a genius, either. And I do think he is not involved in this alone,
Which leads me to another point...the kitchen door. After mulling this over, I've decided that SP would have to be positively moronic to spend that much time removing the handle of the fire door if he were also going to break the back double doors (which he did). There's no reason for it except if the double doors were NOT a point of entry but were broken LATER, to vandalize and possibly also to try to confuse LE as to point of entry.
So breaking down the kitchen door had to be
critical, in other words, as to his point of entry. Which begs the question, why?And the only reason I can come up with for that is:
1)
he didn't want video of his entry into church (hall exits had cameras). This was important, somehow.
(Why? - was he NOT in disguise when he first broke in? Or was he in the SWAT disguise but needed dry off his clothes with kitchen towels?)
2)
he needed to use the kitchen - something in or about the kitchen was absolutely essential to his plan prior to entering the rest of the church.
I've been assuming SP maybe used kitchen towels to dry off with, but now I'm wondering...someone upthread mentioned that a small group had met in the kitchen at 5:00pm that Sunday evening before the murder.
Could an accomplice have left the SWAT gear in a bag in that kitchen? If so, it doesn't necessarily point the finger at that lifegroup...there was kitchen access earlier that day, too, when church was open to the public for services. The blood drive on Saturday might have also provided access if the building were unlocked. In any case, a complete stranger could've walked into that church and conceivably have made a package drop in the kitchen, with the SWAT gear inside. He could've tucked it away out of sight if hidden earlier, or even left it in full view if disguised in a box that looked kitchen-related (eg. Coffee pot box, paper products box, etc.). For that matter, it could've been hidden innocuously in a large kitchen trash bag...did SP find the SWAT gear in that large wheeled trash receptacle by the kitchen door?
Just wondering if LE made a thorough search of the kitchen (they probably did), and if they noticed any larger empty boxes there that would've been big enough to have hidden the SWAT gear in prior to her murder. (I'm thinking the gear was not likely left behind if SP had a modicum of intelligence...though maybe a search of large kitchen boxes wouldn't hurt.) IF gear had been left earlier in a trash bag for SP, it would be a convenient bag to take with him on the way back out after the murder ("he presumably left by the same way he entered")...he could strip off the SWAT gear and hide it in that same trash bag for prompt disposal (whether dumpster, private burning, or tossed in the reservoir north of the church).
*It should be noted that a reservoir and some private ponds as well as a fire station and high school are north of the church (about 3 miles).