CA CA - Hugues de la Plaza, 36, San Francisco, 2 June 2007

[WHITEFANG]

"As for de la Plaza’s state of mind, the night he died, Nix seems to have pieced it all together."

“He was seeing this girl...He was dating a lot of women, he was very charming,” she said.

He was "seeing this girl" and "dating a lot of women." ?


“A knifing of this order could be an impetuous act, but it didn’t seem like a random killing,” Nix added, recalling how she broke up with de la Plaza four years before he died and last saw him January 2007, when they tried, unsuccessfully, to get back together again.
"the last time I had seen Hugues was Jan 1 2007, and had only seen him a handful of times since moving back to California in November."

"I also told him that I had moved back to California, in part, to see if Hugues and I could get back together. But it wasn’t going to work, we soon learned."

 

[steph123]

This is clearly a homicide. I agree that he was stabbed outside, was able to get in the door and lock it. Too bad the SFPD botched this case from the beginning. They will probably never catch the perp now. So sad and such a waste.

 

[WHITEFANG]

Melissa said she moved back to California in November 2006 to see if she and Hugues could make it work (at least that was her motive to some degree.)

Melissa, did you return to California periodically throughout 2006?

When did you leave on your trip from California to go to the east coast in 2007, on the occasion when you learned about Hugues? What was the date? Were you still in town on the evening of May 29?

 

[WHITEFANG]

Hugues blood contained no evidence of the metabolite benzoylecgonine. It is present for up to one month after using coke.

 

[thesaint]

Not sure where that info came from or what it's based on as cocaine is generally detectable only within the first 96 hours after last use. Pot is detectable much, much longer.

But, regardless, a month isn't very long at all. If he had done| acquired cocaine that recently, he most likely had a regular hookup and would've contacted them to re-up. The idea I'm knocking around is that Hugues was one of those former coke users who deletes their dealer(s)'s contact info and only does it when it's offered up to them/easy to come by without falling back into regular use.

 

[WHITEFANG]

The results of his blood testing are published in the ME's report. The data on the metabolite benzoylecgonine and cocaine usage are available on websites that present information on drug testing as well as many other sites. They could have done a hair analysis, too, yielding results for an even longer period of time.
I think there may be credible evidence that Melissa may have "returned" to California long before November 2006, as she maintains. If so, this would be another example of her inconsistencies.
That she has made so many statements that are contradictory, incorrect or can't be true is disturbing.
Apparently, Hugues was on a date with a married woman the last night of his life. Hopefully it is not too much to expect that the cops cleared her husband.

 

[Shutterfly]

ALSO
Why is there blood all over the laptop but not the phone? That's weird to me - because in the picture, the laptop is right next to the cell phone. Was the laptop moved prior to the photo being taken? The laptop seems to be the ONLY item with blood on it on that table.

I don't know what to think about that. Kinda odd, that pristine white table with what looks like two drops of what may be blood on it and no blood elsewhere in sight....but look at this......same table.....

So I'm left to wonder; which picture shows the table as it was originally found and exactly where was this laptop? I don't believe it was on this table. Absolutely no way IMO.

 

[blubuni99]

BUMP!!! I wish there was more info out because I'm so interested in what happened to him!

 

[Suthrnqt]

What if he was attacked farther down the street, out of sight of the cameras? They said he was drunk. So he stumbles home, goes inside, stumbles around in his apt and eventually dies from his wounds.

This sounds like a plausible theory to me. Maybe he was so drunk he didn't even realize the extent of his injuries. :waitasec:

 

[Kenon]

Hi Whitefang. I have been following this story since it came out. After reading some things you wrote, you have very interesting and valid questions for Melissa, which I would have never thought of. I read the article that it was now considered a homicide and it says he was thinking about moving to Argentina. That would be another reason IMO for Melissa to be upset. I really wish they could figure this one out. It does seem that he met someone on the outside of his apartment and went in by himself. But who?

 

[WHITEFANG]

Thanks Kenon.
Melissa doesn't appear to be interested in answering questions asked by people trying to solve this mystery, unfortunately. I don't believe for a split second she doesn't read all the blogs she can find related to her and Hugues. Perhaps she does respond under an alias. So far, though, the public does not know who notified her while she was on the east coast. That piece of the puzzle is missing. Opportunity. Motive, tons of motives on her part. Means, a knife is nothing. So, the opportunity removes her from a "person of interest." Maybe not. Perhaps they are looking closer at her than we know.
Obviously, she may have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with his death. Yet, she is consumed with him and has been since 1999 when they were lovers, lived together, traveled to Italy, etc. To try to reunite with him just 5 months before he was stabbed to death puts her among those who have to be screened very carefully. How do we know she ended it, BTW? Because she says so? What if he did? She said a number of things that don't add up. Any time a person who is this close to the victim of an unsolved murder, who makes contradictory statements, has to become the focus of intense scrutiny. Throw in her obsessive compulsion to post pictures of the two of them, together, years before, and the media attention she gets through her efforts to "solve" the case as his ex-girlfriend and you can smell pathology all over. To be clear, she was merely "an" ex-girlfriend from long ago and far away, not “his ex-girlfriend.” One of many, many, many, many ex-girlfriends of his.
In her own words, she had no association with anything Hugues or his circle for months. “I did not know about his daily life or his friends or his plans when Casillas interviewed me. “ Okay? Wait a second. Then, who knew her and where she would be and how to reach her? Who would bother to notify her in the first place? WHO, Melissa?
Someone wants to have it both ways. Melissa as his main squeeze, his number one all time love interest, the two engaged in an ongoing drama of great proportions. Would they become united again, would they get back together, or would their misery and unrequited love persist down through the ages? On the other hand, we have Melissa, the far removed, uninvolved, care-free career professional who ended it, moved on, took another innocent, quick look-see, and moved on, singing a song, no big deal.
Can’t be both.

 

[WHITEFANG]

In the piece by 48 Hours they show Melissa giving a speech from the landing of the staircase at Hugues' former apartment. She announces the purpose of the vigil they are having and introduces herself, "I am Melissa Nix, THE ex-girlfriend of Hugues de la Plaza." Melissa, what a weird statement for you to make.

 

[WHITEFANG]

That would be another reason IMO for Melissa to be upset.

You are right that this is interesting, Kenon.
Let's start with a premise. To form one, let's try to address motive. Would anyone have a reason to want to harm Hugues? The ME was baffled by the scene to an extent because she thought, if it was a crime scene, "Who wanted to kill him?" Since she couldn't identify a motive, and because the doors were locked from the inside and most of the blood spatter didn't indicate a violent confrontation, etc., she has struggled to comprehend exactly what the wounds and the crime scene reveal.

You said something very important I think. You said Hugues' plans to move to Argentina would cause Melissa further pain, or words to that effect. Why would this cause her any problem? IF, as she says, they were not involved, and IF, as she says, it was not going to work and they had not been romantically involved for four years, and IF she had not had any dealings with any of his pals or him since January 1, why would it upset her that he was planning to boogie? Indeed, how did she know of his plans at the time? (Did she know before he died?) But, what you noticed, and this is the important part, regardless when she knew about Argentina, despite the words she uses, her behavior broadcasts, loudly and clearly, overwhelming passion for Hugues from the time he kissed her so hard on her lips she almost passed out in front of her Brooklyn apartment 9 years ago until today.

That is why it takes no imagination to picture the grief she must have felt. It seems impossible, in a real sense, to expect that she would or could feel anything but tremendous anguish over his wondering eyes, his habit of pursuing and sleeping with many others, apparently without giving her a second thought.

Again, she acknowledges she moved to California (from the east coast) in November 2006, just months before his murder, to try to make it work. That was her motive to some extent, anyway. Reading between the lines and her actions, I'd be surprised if that wasn't her sole motivation.

So, it seems safe and logical to say that someone may have had a motive, after all. She may not be the only one, either, but she is a person with a possible motive.

The premise? Hugues may have hurt some people who in turn may have been willing to hurt him. It isn't profound or unique. It is just something to go on in trying to understand what happened to him. In fact, Melissa said she believed this was a crime of passion.

Remember this, too. From the information available, he may have dated a married woman the last night of his life which may not have sat well with her spouse.

 

[WHITEFANG]

What was Melissa doing with crime scene photographs? Why did she offer them to 48 Hours? Were they hers? Did she take them?

 

[Kenon]

What was Melissa doing with crime scene photographs? Why did she offer them to 48 Hours? Were they hers? Did she take them?

Whitefang, I missed that one. Yeah where the he!! did she get those. Your right it is funny. She wants LE to figure out what happened to him, but she doesn't answer the hard questions. I wish she would answer your questions. But if she did read Websleuths, I would think she would lay low, because the people on here figure out way too much good stuff.

 

[WHITEFANG]

If you watch the 48 Hour piece again, notice when they enter the crime scene initially. The camera work is bazaar. The floor spins. The walls do, too. Floor level shots wind around. These weren't staged shots, either.
During a segment of the program when ME Azar is being interviewed, she says that she knows for certain that Melissa raised the issue of suicide. She says she has the transcript of the recorded conversation Melissa had with the detective. Pause the showing when you see white paper with type on it appear. You can actually read a portion of the transcript. You can read where the detective asks her if she ever had had concerns for Hugues safety. She says, "Yes." She says he showed up quite drunk in November 2006 and she suspected he was doing alot of coke. the detective didn't ask her any leading questions, as she claims, at least not in my opinion. Melissa seems far more angry with the authorities than she appears to be saddened over Hugues death.

In her initial post/comment on the blog she started on June 4, 2007, she never mentions how sorry she feels for his family and loved ones. She does say she hopes he knew, as he lay there dying, how much she loved him. (Why would she expect that her love for him would be of particular significance to him during his last few moments on earth?) Many others who post during the first couple months following this tragedy, make a point to express their sympathy for his parents and loved ones.

Yes, she has embarked on a mission to uncover what really happened, due in part, she says, because his parents deserve to know. But folks, she was just one of many, many of Hugues' ex-girlfriends, and she had been out of the picture going back 4 years worth of newer girlfriends. Her sincerity is tough to swallow, for me.

 

[WHITEFANG]

"Nix said she hopes the laptop will provide clues as to whom de la Plaza had been meeting through online dating sites where he was active."

If they had not broken in to his hard drive at this point, how would Nix have any idea what kinds of websites Hugues was active on?

Near the very end of the 48 Hour program, as Azar says she would change her determination if a person came forward with eyewitness testimony, the camera turns back to the crime scene. Look closely and carefully. I believe you can see what appears to be Hugues' legs and right boot in the position his body was in when he was found. It is visible on screen for 1 to 2 seconds.

 

[Steely Dan]

If you watch the 48 Hour piece again, notice when they enter the crime scene initially. The camera work is bazaar. The floor spins. The walls do, too. Floor level shots wind around. These weren't staged shots, either.
During a segment of the program when ME Azar is being interviewed, she says that she knows for certain that Melissa raised the issue of suicide. She says she has the transcript of the recorded conversation Melissa had with the detective. Pause the showing when you see white paper with type on it appear. You can actually read a portion of the transcript. You can read where the detective asks her if she ever had had concerns for Hugues safety. She says, "Yes." She says he showed up quite drunk in November 2006 and she suspected he was doing alot of coke. the detective didn't ask her any leading questions, as she claims, at least not in my opinion. Melissa seems far more angry with the authorities than she appears to be saddened over Hugues death.

In her initial post/comment on the blog she started on June 4, 2007, she never mentions how sorry she feels for his family and loved ones. She does say she hopes he knew, as he lay there dying, how much she loved him. (Why would she expect that her love for him would be of particular significance to him during his last few moments on earth?) Many others who post during the first couple months following this tragedy, make a point to express their sympathy for his parents and loved ones.

Yes, she has embarked on a mission to uncover what really happened, due in part, she says, because his parents deserve to know. But folks, she was just one of many, many of Hugues' ex-girlfriends, and she had been out of the picture going back 4 years worth of newer girlfriends. Her sincerity is tough to swallow, for me.

I thought there was some kind of shenanigans going on with the police refusing to let 48 hours hear the tape. I thought it was to hide their incompetence but now I wonder if it's to hide a part of their investigation.

When the French police came over I wonder if they shared that info with them. The coroner may be keeping it a suicide so Melissa will stay involved and eventually slip up on something. JMO

 

[WHITEFANG]

Interesting theory. How could someone with her brains tell 48 Hours that the detective wouldn't talk to her and he had no questions for her? He spoke to her at length and she accused him of asking her very leading questions. She has convinced herself that she has duped almost everyone looking into this. She believes she is so credible that even when she contradicts herself, she doesn't need to be concerned. She's wrong. She has made enough gaffes that impartial observers easily perceive her culpability. She slipped and slipped and now they have accumulated to the point where, like you say Steely, she may be about to spring a trap "those incompetent officials" set for her.

She seems oblivious, too. She is so completely absorbed, adamant and focused on how the cops failed to call this a murder, that she isn't convincing any more. She is mourning the loss of the love of her life? Her best friend? Her baby boy? Her one true love? Her affect doesn't suggest the depth of grief commensurate with such devastation. Where are Job's sores and ashes?

I thought there was some kind of shenanigans going on with the police refusing to let 48 hours hear the tape. I thought it was to hide their incompetence but now I wonder if it's to hide a part of their investigation.

When the French police came over I wonder if they shared that info with them. The coroner may be keeping it a suicide so Melissa will stay involved and eventually slip up on something. JMO

 

[WHITEFANG]

I think the case will be solved, soon.
I feel bad for his parents.
Hugues was their only child.
It is sickening.
The things I have said about this weird case are merely my opinions.