Question: Does anyone here have an example of someone that went into witness protection that was similar to this? How doooooooooes LE explain to media and LE and family...to get them to lay off... shhhhhhhhhhhhh iykwim. There are lots of folks in witness protection (well, I have nooooooooooooo idea, just assume).
Sorry, my mind is wandering as an O/T about witness protection programs and what has happened if family thinks bad stuff has happended...
hmmmmmmmmmmmm
I jumped off your post one time before, atthelake, but definitely still chewing on the thought that I bolded in quoting it again above!
lakeoconee, wanted to thank you for the link. Very interesting and thought-provoking (and at points, disturbing) reading, and I had not seen it.
I know any further talk of Witness Protection kinds of scenarios probably seems ill-placed at this particular point, with Sheriff Sills off following the money. But I just can't shake some kind of feeling about that sort of angle...not sold on it, but I keep revisiting it. And I have to post when I get the chance, so please excuse if this falls in an odd place. I know it is no longer a popular theory...
Beyond some possible link with the oldest son's life/fate, I just can't totally get away from the possibility that the older Dermonds themselves might have been in some kind of witness security program. I do not mean by this that they, or one of them, necessarily had a criminal background...it seems that while many under that type of protection WERE criminally involved themselves, others definitely were not -- just in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak, and agreed to help prosecute, at their peril. Maybe that was the case was with Russell/Shirley -- and they and their (probably fairly young at the time) children were placed in a witness protection program.... Just conjecturing of course.
Some have found some of the actions of the family something to comment on -- the Dermonds not attending the trial of the man convicted of their oldest son's murder; the family not attending the vigil, returning rather quickly to their homes and keeping a somewhat subdued public presence. For the record, I DON'T find any of this objectionable or even THAT odd, but I do see how it could fit in with the theory I'm talking about here. "Lay low ... don't draw attention." I would think that likely, if the senior Dermonds (or one of them) were protected witnesses, the children (adults now) would probably not be in great danger at this point -- if the seniors' cover was blown and they paid for it with their lives, one would think the "debt" probably settled -- but I could sure understand them not making a big public show, just the same.
I think, too, of reports we have heard from some locals that the prevailing feeling in the Lake Oconee area is that the Dermonds were specifically targeted, no one else local is in danger, the killer is long "outta here". Could just be denial/getting on with life, but maybe they have picked up some vibes locally that support their belief...?
Somehow, it is kind of interesting to me, on this angle, that we suddenly get a somewhat younger-years photo of the Dermonds... may not mean a thing, of course. I see most recent news reports are carrying it. It seemed to me from the beginning that there was a bit of a paucity of pics, but JMO. (Also remembering -- and again, it may mean nothing -- when one of the kids commented, early on, that the Dermonds looked so young that their friends were probably going to be surprised to learn, from media reports surrounding the crime, their real age. Hmmm. Maybe just a
bit odd...? Not sure.)
Of course, I do think that, if witness protection (at least with the senior Dermonds the protected -- something related to the older son somehow, now, that's a different story) were involved, Sills would know, by now. What a quandary that would be...what is the protocol?? (As you, atthelake, were asking, I think.) Would have to be really hard on Sills' ego to swallow that down and basically be forced, eventually, into letting this become a "cold case", as far as the public is concerned! (Not saying Sills is a big egotist, but you have to have some ego strength to do what he does, IMO.)
He's still out there following leads, asking for tips, I know -- so likely I am way off base with this theory, but since it's kind of haunting me ... well, there it is.
On another front: Maybe I am flattering us, but I have the eeriest feeling that this is one of those cases where media is watching WS! Example -- someone posted the other day "Where is Mark Winne (WSB reporter) and suddenly, bang, there he is with a report on the Dermond case! (Maybe the media simply has about the same level of frustration tolerance we do, though -- and just couldn't stand it anymore, rang up the son and the sheriff!)
Either that or one of our mods contacted the media and said, "Please! Get an update! That gang on that thread is driving us nuts!!" (LOL, joking, mods -- no evil intent!!)
