It did hurt them though, they have been in jail for 3 years so far because of it.
It matters that they walked up to the door together for a couple of reasons. Although dead men cannot identify people, the witnesses who were not killed can.
It did make a difference that the other two witnesses saw them, because they were able to testify to that in court.
It also matters because it is inconsistent with the scenario that they were there to commit a murder and not get caught. If they had a plan to get a driver in a truck and then shoot him for his keys, why would both need to be seen at the house? Why not leave MS with the Yukon to follow, or to even pretend that he was stranded on the side of the road and pull over to help him. Surely TB would not have found that suspicious because he was naturally the kind of person who would offer help to a stranded motorist, I feel. Any tiny bit of forethought and pre-planning would have come up with a better plan than to both be seen by the intended victim's wife and tenant. If eliminating witnesses was the reason that they didn't fear showing their faces, then logic would follow that they would eliminate every witness who saw their faces. They obviously didn't.
I believe that DM was the type of person that required to have someone 'in his service' at all times (similar to a toddler). It has been shown time and again that he brought numerous numerous people into his various escapades. Whether that was done so that he would then have something to hang over their heads later, or if he just had a psychiatric need to have someone interested in him and his life and what he was doing at all times, who knows?
My belief is that DM did plan this out, perhaps even on paper, trying to think of every possibility, and that he did think of many possibilities, but simply couldn't think of
all of them, such as the fantastic memory of Igor, the coming together and quick action of the B army, the speed with which the police took the incident seriously enough to put their wheels into motion SO very quickly, and perhaps even that the various cellphones could be shown to have been together WITH his burner phone at strategic times. Perhaps in Toronto with its huge population, that cellphone mapping may not have been an issue to consider, but in rural Ancaster at that time of night on a weekday, not so lucky.
Even in the courtroom, I have noticed that DM is constantly looking to chat with his lawyer at every opportunity, every break. In my opinion, he desperately seeks out others' involvement in himself at all times. There was absolutely no reason for MS or anyone else to go up to the B house that night, and it would have made much more sense on many fronts to go alone, but DM had to have someone with him nevertheless. And his plan was that there would be no evidence other than a dead man's eye witness description of the two men physically, no vehicle from which to launch a starting point.
The two additional people at the house were undoubtedly a surprise. Think about men selling their work trucks on kijiji. Is it usual for the man's wife to come out to greet the potential buyer? I would personally think not, but that is moo. Perhaps if a man is selling his family vehicle, this might happen more often, and even though this truck may well have *been* TB's family vehicle, it was known as his work truck. Even so, his plan was based on a lack of evidence.. all there would be, would be people who could tell a police sketch artist what a couple of guys looked like in dim lighting/darkness from several feet away. If there had been no Igor test drive the day before, or if Igor had not had such a fantastic ability to notice and recall detail, my bet is that they would still be searching for the guys who look like the sketch artist's renderings of what SB and WDB thought they saw that night. Igor is most certainly the hero of the day, and of this case.
I can just picture MS's thoughts, in the first place likely wondering why DM required his presence in walking up to the house rather than dropping him off, and then seeing there would be not just one, but three eye witnesses to deal with, knowing that he had mugshots available. And yet people wonder why he reportedly wanted to hide his face? It doesn't make sense that it would be any other way. MS already had several convictions and I'll bet the last thing he would want to do time for, would be for stealing a truck for someone else. He was already the fallguy, but he just didn't realize it. All moo.
