Hello, I've been following this case from half way around the world since Dec 27th and have been relying on BBC for information they've gone silent as equationgirl mentioned in her post and LE are lying low.
I wonder why I am still fixated on GR, even after LE claim he is only a suspect. Surely that should be a strong enough indicator that he's not the murderer.
Why then must my thoughts persist?
I would be grateful if any of you could give me an opinion on my queries below:
<snipped for space>
Any insight into the above would be greatly appreciated.
I tend to agree ... the boyfriend is still in my radar, even though he is a witness and not a suspect. Not only is the weekend without contact seemingly overlooked by the boyfriend when he returns to find her away, but a fully clothed victim, no sexual assault, and body in remote location also makes me think the boyfriend. Additionally, the police search for a hiding spot near the flat suggests someone close to home, possibly the boyfriend that waited 4 hours until after midnight before contacting police.
Defending a suspect, even though it is the landlord, seems very unusual for someone that was away for the weekened and who could not know whether the landlord was involved.
Rigor mortis, as far as I understand, settles in and then leaves within about 24-48 hours. The process is slower in cold temperatures. If the temp was below freezing the whole time, there probably wasn't any decomposition ... and the brother did say that she looked like she was sleeping.
Last thing I read about stomach contents was that police could not tell if she had eaten the pizza and were going to do more tests. That could mean one of two things ... she didn't eat it, or too much time passed between eating it and being murdered. I understand they are looking for the box and wrapping for the uncooked pizza.
I doubt the boyfriend would have taken the body in the car, but it is possible he put her somewhere around the property ... like a back shed. I guess police were looking into that recently. Since there was no real decomposition, it does seem likely that she was outside in the cold the entire time.
I think it's possible that he returned to the Bristol flat at 8 PM Sunday, but if he was involved, he still had 4 hours to look after things. I think the arrival time in Sheffield is also fuzzy as the roads were a bit snowy, and this could impact travel time. If he left Bristol at 7:30 or 8, and drove slowly, his timeline could still place him in Bristol at the time of the murder ... although not to many young, athletic, single guys drive slowly even in the snow, so he should have arrived in Sheffield in record time.
Good questions about why he didn't call friends when he returned home and she was away. Obviously he didn't phone her when he got home ... because he would have heard her phone ringing in the next room. Why did it take him until after midnight to contact anyone, including Joanna ... or did he try phoning her and make nothing of the fact that her bag, keys, and cell phone were all in the flat?
Good question about why the boyfriend didn't stop for a short time after work at the Ram Pub ... if he had packed up the night before, driven to work, and stopped at the pub, his timeline of leaving around 7 or 8 PM would be the same.