VA VA - Scott Ratigan, 24, found murdered in apartment, Arlington, 17 Jan 2020

[_Patches]

I went to that high school around the same time. If the second person you’re talking about is who I think it is, I believe his was a suicide and not accidental.

I'm sorry to hear that about the other person, that must be very difficult for anyone who knew them both to deal with all at once.

 

[scdiv]

Thank you for starting this post. I am very close to his girlfriend and this has just been absolutely destroying her. Scott was an amazing person. I know some of the answers to the questions posted above, but I’ll keep them to myself, out of respect to the family. (And I’m sure there are rules about posting “unverified” information.)

I am so sorry to hear of your loss of Scott and also for his girlfriend's loss and grief. There is a process to be a verified insider on websleuths where you can post "unverified" information -- if you wish. But obviously it's understandable for wanting to be respectful to the family for what is shared or not. So many comments on the obituary were just beautiful and heartfelt and seemed to speak for what kind of person Scott was.

This is the verified insider process if it's anything you are considering:

Verification Process for Professional or Insider Posters

 

[pottsandpans]

Thank you for the kind words. I have followed along with websleuths for years and I never imagined the day that I would have some insight on someone in these posts. I will ask his girlfriend and my family what would be appropriate to share or not. Everyone is still trying to wrap their heads around this and come to terms that he is gone. We all want answers so badly but I’m putting my trust into the detectives and police handling this case. I just really hope they find justice for Scott.

I am so sorry to hear of your loss of Scott and also for his girlfriend's loss and grief. There is a process to be a verified insider on websleuths where you can post "unverified" information -- if you wish. But obviously it's understandable for wanting to be respectful to the family for what is shared or not. So many comments on the obituary were just beautiful and heartfelt and seemed to speak for what kind of person Scott was.

This is the verified insider process if it's anything you are considering:

Verification Process for Professional or Insider Posters

 

[Scout905]

Long time ghost reader but first time poster here. I live in the area and this case has been really unsettling to me. Has anyone heard any updates or have any new info? The silence from law enforcement and from the media must mean they have a general idea of who did it.

 

[_Patches]

Long time ghost reader but first time poster here. I live in the area and this case has been really unsettling to me. Has anyone heard any updates or have any new info? The silence from law enforcement and from the media must mean they have a general idea of who did it.

My gut feeling is LE is confident in who did it, but obviously not confident enough in the evidence to make an arrest. The person likely lawyered up quickly and didn't give them any free help. I would think LE might be more vocal about asking for more info if they needed it. Just speculation.

 

[scdiv]

Reminds me a little bit of the Carolyn Byington investigation. There was very little info or police updates for a long time, and very little pleas to the public for help in catching the killer. But they did have the suspect (her coworker in this case) in their line of sight for quite some time, just kept it under the radar until they had enough to arrest/charge him.

 

[melissasaaaa]

BBM:

Odor of bleach means the killer spent some time cleaning up the murder scene.

Wonder who the 4 people were at the apartment when first responders showed up.

Also, would be interesting to know when they arrived at his apartment, and whether they all arrived at the same time or not.

Hopefully, the cameras are going to be a big assist to LE here.

At first blush, his FB doesn't raise any red flags.

JMO.

 

[melissasaaaa]

Mystery Surrounds Arlington Man’s Death

Dispatch call said blood coming from mouth, hands, and neck.

So who were the four people who were at the apartment? Roommates? Friends? Did they come in and discover and call for assistance? And no 911 calls

I also predict this will be solved quickly. The police aren't out doing a manhunt for a suspect. It's probably someone already in their crosshairs.

 

[melissasaaaa]

Has anyone thought of the possibility of the suspect not going through the front door but maybe a fire escape because I heard somewhere about a window being open or broken or something?

 

[MinnyPin]

The use of bleach is confusing to me. It’s usually used to hide that there was a murder or a body. Why use bleach if body there to find? So sad, he seemed like a well rounded young man.

 

[Kip]

The killer would use bleach to try to destroy his or her DNA at the crime scene.

 

[_Patches]

Has anyone thought of the possibility of the suspect not going through the front door but maybe a fire escape because I heard somewhere about a window being open or broken or something?

No fire escapes in the building. Only way down from floors is elevators or fire stairwells that lead to 1st floor just outside elevator lobbies. Broken window has not been anything I’ve heard, but there would be no way to get in from a window (unless someone scaled the balconies somehow which i don’t think is possible).

There’s a lot of cameras, every entrance and elevator lobby at least. Problem is it sounds like the camera system might have been down.

 

[tousmesespoirs]

I lived in this building from 2014-2016, so I've been anxiously awaiting an update in this case. Even felt compelled to make an account over it. So odd, really hope LE already has the right suspect in mind. As a former resident, I'm sadly not surprised to hear the cameras weren't working...I think there's a lot of negligence that goes on in many, many apartment complexes like this when it comes to security. I still have similar issues in my current building, so I think that's why a lot of people who live in the area are kind of on edge about this. That being said, I'm still shocked something like this could have happened just because of the sheer size of the place and how high up most of the apartments are--like _Patches said above, you can't just scale the balconies and break a window. Those windows double as sliding doors to the balconies, so they're basically floor-to-ceiling and a broken one would have been super noticeable. If the minimal digging I did is accurate, I believe this happened on a very high floor, think like 15+. There's also been a ton of construction work going on in and around the complex. I still live nearby and every time I'd walk or drive by I'd be happy I moved out when I did...

 

[_Patches]

I lived in this building from 2014-2016, so I've been anxiously awaiting an update in this case. Even felt compelled to make an account over it. So odd, really hope LE already has the right suspect in mind. As a former resident, I'm sadly not surprised to hear the cameras weren't working...I think there's a lot of negligence that goes on in many, many apartment complexes like this when it comes to security. I still have similar issues in my current building, so I think that's why a lot of people who live in the area are kind of on edge about this. That being said, I'm still shocked something like this could have happened just because of the sheer size of the place and how high up most of the apartments are--like _Patches said above, you can't just scale the balconies and break a window. Those windows double as sliding doors to the balconies, so they're basically floor-to-ceiling and a broken one would have been super noticeable. If the minimal digging I did is accurate, I believe this happened on a very high floor, think like 15+. There's also been a ton of construction work going on in and around the complex. I still live nearby and every time I'd walk or drive by I'd be happy I moved out when I did...

From my understanding, yes it happened fairly high up in the East tower. The police did at least tell us which tower it was in.

The renovation of the building certainly had to do with the state of the cameras. I actually googled the brand and model (H4 Fisheye Camera » Avigilon) of the cameras around the first floor level, and the company offers cloud services for saving videos. I have no idea if they utilize that. Unfortunately, some of the other models include a back up recording ability saved on the camera, but this model doesn't appear to have it.

P.S. The only positive experience I've really had with this apartment is that they forgot to increase my rent last year. You should be glad you moved haha

 

[tousmesespoirs]

From my understanding, yes it happened fairly high up in the East tower. The police did at least tell us which tower it was in.

The renovation of the building certainly had to do with the state of the cameras. I actually googled the brand and model (H4 Fisheye Camera » Avigilon) of the cameras around the first floor level, and the company offers cloud services for saving videos. I have no idea if they utilize that. Unfortunately, some of the other models include a back up recording ability saved on the camera, but this model doesn't appear to have it.

P.S. The only positive experience I've really had with this apartment is that they forgot to increase my rent last year. You should be glad you moved haha

Forgot to raise your rent! Lol, if only... TBH I can see their price-gouging/shoddy maintenance habits getting worse after this new makeover. It's really a shame about the cameras, and I just can't imagine that someone somewhere down the line didn't know about it.

 

[_Patches]

Hearing from some friends the FBI is involved as Arlington Police isn’t making progress...

 

[Scout905]

Hearing from some friends the FBI is involved as Arlington Police isn’t making progress...

Thanks for the update! I haven't thought about this case in a bit but am surprised it wasn't a straight forward open and shut case (angry roommate, girlfriend, coworker, etc), as many of us thought it would end up being. Has anyone else heard anything?

 

[_Patches]

I

Thanks for the update! I haven't thought about this case in a bit but am surprised it wasn't a straight forward open and shut case (angry roommate, girlfriend, coworker, etc), as many of us thought it would end up being. Has anyone else heard anything?

I haven’t heard anything about it since then and there has been nothing online about it. I do now know for sure he lived with his sister. I was told a few other rumors about the crime scene from some people a little more connected in Arlington than me, but they are pretty specific details, and while I have no reason to doubt them, I also can’t confirm them and don’t want to speculate too much on those.

 

[AmandaSkis]

What’s curious is that there is NOTHING out there publicly on Facebook. A search of his name turns up his FB page but no posts from anyone saying anything. No friends asking for help in finding his killer, no one writing “I’m sorry you lost a friend/sibling.” Nothing.

 

[_Patches]

What’s curious is that there is NOTHING out there publicly on Facebook. A search of his name turns up his FB page but no posts from anyone saying anything. No friends asking for help in finding his killer, no one writing “I’m sorry you lost a friend/sibling.” Nothing.

I will partially disagree with this, there was plenty I saw of his friends and family upset about his passing. Seemed very well liked and popular. I also think it's something to note that people of this age group don't use Facebook as much anymore or are much better about privacy settings so these a lot of these things may not appear in public searches.

There is nothing about wanting to find the killer though that I've seen (apart from a very short news clip of his father in front of their home). Earlier I felt like a lack of calls for help was a good sign that an arrest was in the foreseeable future, but now it just seems odd because there has been radio silence from LE and the media since January.