I have mixed opinions about the performance of LE on this case. Sure, mistakes were made - scale doesn’t matter to me - but this is what small town Midwest LE is often like. I live 5 minutes from the county sheriff’s station/county jail & 10 minutes from the city police station. My home town is 10 times the population of Delphi & draws crime from a top 20 city in terms of population, roughly 20-30 minutes away.
Mistakes have happened here in my hometown. They happen everywhere. Hell, the county jail admitted an inmate at the local hospital for an alleged illness & left him handcuffed to the hospital bed with no officers on guard/watch. He escaped & walked across the 2 lane state road into my neighborhood & broke into an elderly couple’s home, beating the husband & stealing their car. The husband was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days & likely died due to complications from the beating. Sure the inmate was later apprehended but who leaves an inmate in a hospital alone?
Next July will be the 20th anniversary of a double homicide of a mom & her pre-teen (10-11?) stepson (refer to Dickus murders) not even 10 minutes from my house. Police have said nothing publicly regarding details of the murders except for manner of deaths, husband not a suspect & some minor details regarding items found & taken. That’s it for 20 years.
Point being, mistakes & shut mouths happen just about everywhere. No, it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable or right but it just happens - like vehicle accidents. Same thing that happened in Delphi could happen just about anywhere else where violent crime/murder is not one of the larger foci of LE. On the other hand, I just don’t understand how it all ended up being a years long investigation. I guess the fact they got the man seems to push aside most of my disappointment with LE. To me, it seems the FBI may have been the real posers. I wasn’t there, so I really shouldn’t cast too many stones, I suppose.
Sure, it would be nice if we know who screwed up & all that but luckily the perpetrator screwed up more by leaving the victim’s phone at the scene along with his unspent round & later giving into his wife (MOO) & inserting himself into the investigation when he tipped himself to LE. Loose lips sink ships. He gained nothing by admitting he was there to his wife but then later lying that he wasn’t on the bridge. The interview from 10/2022 (MOO) shows they’d discussed his trip to the trails prior to 2022 ("you told me you weren’t on the bridge" - "you know I love you" (my paraphrasing)). He ended up lying to her anyway - why not just deny you were even there? I’ll never understand that move.
The bridge troll rot said it best - he is a coward & only cares for himself. It shows through in how he treated those allegedly close to him during each step of this case - his wife, his daughter, his mother. The only time he told the truth was when he was trying to fake his mental state (MOO) & blabbering to Dr. Wala.
Luckily, he will have 130 years to think about all that. I’m curious if that precious bible made the trip down to OK.
The actions of his attorneys, their team & those who unquestionably support the convicted or continue to point fingers at the victim’s family sicken me much more than the performance of LE on this case.
JMO