OH - Pike County: 8 people from one family dead as police hunt for killer(s) - #27

[alwaysonmymind]

Yes, that's when all the "victim blaming" began. Not sure if that messaging was intentional or not. Long after the fact, LE did come out and admit that:

None of the cars on the property were stolen

None of the birds had been used in fighting

None of the dogs were involved in dog fighting

But the damage had been done.

Pretty shameful, but I guess that's how small town gossip goes. People deal with their own fears of something similar happening to them by pretending the victims brought the murders upon themselves. There's not much that's "Christian" about that.

First, I want to start by saying I don't believe these murders had anything to do with any of the cars, dogs, roosters or the alleged pot plants.

I do feel it had to do with unrequited love and jealousy.

I do want to clarify something about fighting / roosters though.

The health of the roosters on the property is not an indicator of whether or not they were being raised as gamecocks.

A fight is usually a death match for both roosters. It is almost a given that the loser dies and rare for the winner to survive long due to injuries received in the fight. It's not like they fight the birds and load them up and bring them home until the next fight.



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[GoBuckeyes]

I find it kind of disturbing that vehicles can be seized without evidence of a crime.

Completely agree, Dudley!

 

[GoBuckeyes]

First, I want to start by saying I don't believe these murders had anything to do with any of the cars, dogs, roosters or the alleged pot plants.

I do feel it had to do with unrequited love and jealousy.

I do want to clarify something about fighting / roosters though.

The health of the roosters on the property is not an indicator of whether or not they were being raised as gamecocks.

A fight is usually a death match for both roosters. It is almost a given that the loser dies and rare for the winner to survive long due to injuries received in the fight. It's not like they fight the birds and load them up and bring them home until the next fight.



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Very, very sad all the way around. I can't believe that people enjoy such barbarism. I am a member of a Pit Bull rescue group. It's sickening what some people do for sport. Jeez, shoot dice, enter a boxing match, play cards, call Vegas, whatever, but don't involve people or animals who have no choice. The entire thing is tragic, especially the 8 lives lost.

 

[molly1255]

Maybe it is just me, but I would not have taken it off. I would have backed up as far as I could get from the truck and called the police. Anyone could have put that device on there even a private investigator or the killers. And if my family had been murdered just under a mile from my house I would not be thinking it was put on my truck to benefit me.

You stated this very well. If I were in JM's situation with the unsolved murder of my sister and her family and I found a tracker on my vehicle, I would be extremely concerned that I (and my family) might be the next targets. That apparently didn't occur to him because he took it off and he smashed it on the sidewalk. He didn't call the police when he found the tracker, and he refused to leave work to discuss the situation with BCI when they were at his house. I would have wanted to talk to BCI, at a minimum, to find out why they put the tracker on my vehicle.

Why did he automatically assume that LE put it on his truck? He did just apparently fail a polygraph and if he knew he failed, that may have raised his suspicions when he found the tracker. But on the other hand, there are killers on the loose and these weren't random killings, his sister and her family were targeted.

I'd hate to think anyone in the family could have been involved in the murders, but JM's actions make me suspicious that he knows a lot more than what he is saying and also, that he isn't concerned about being a possible target. I hope that whatever tactic LE is using on this is successful and they are able to find out what JM knows.

 

[molly1255]

I, for one, don't want to believe JM is involved, because I too have a soft spot for LM and don't want to see him suffer more. But let's not forget that LE believes this man is withholding information about his sister's murder. How many of us on here would withhold information in a family members murder? Why is he withholding that information from investigators? If that was my sister I would be camped out in the investigators office 24/7 telling everything I knew from the day I was born.

It might be that he is afraid that if he talks, the killers will come after him. I'd desperately want justice for my sister and her family and I would also be afraid that due to the fact this was a targeted execution, I would not be able to sleep at night, wondering if the killers would come after me and my family.

For these reasons, I would tell LE everything I knew and would ask for protection for me and for my family. DeWine has a lot of pull politically. If he thought it would bring a resolution to this case, he could likely pull the necessary strings and get the family into the witness protection program.

I really feel for LM. I have a soft spot for him as well. I've seen the way he beams when he talks about Dana He loved her and he was proud of the person she was and it is heartbreaking. I think he feels the same way about his other children, too, and he is unable to process why BCI doesn't believe his son has told them everything he knows.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

All the witnesses are people close to the family: the last to see the victims alive, the ones who discovered them, the ones who changed plans. All are mothers or fathers.

None of them have prior convictions related to drugs except for JR.**

It's possibly bigger than it looks. But it's not about drugs. If you can't think of anything else, you need more imagination.

So why do you think the Highway 23 DRUG task force was called out to the search on the W's property? Do you think BCI was just treating them to a nice outing on a horse ranch because they have been working too hard? Maybe BCI thought the fresh air would do them good. After all they have been cooped up out on Highway 23 investigating drug trafficking for a while. The exhaust fumes off all those vehicles they have been stopping to search for drugs surely is clogging up their sinuses.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

It might be that he is afraid that if he talks, the killers will come after him. I'd desperately want justice for my sister and her family and I would also be afraid that due to the fact this was a targeted execution, I would not be able to sleep at night, wondering if the killers would come after me and my family.

For these reasons, I would tell LE everything I knew and would ask for protection for me and for my family. DeWine has a lot of pull politically. If he thought it would bring a resolution to this case, he could likely pull the necessary strings and get the family into the witness protection program.

I really feel for LM. I have a soft spot for him as well. I've seen the way he beams when he talks about Dana He loved her and he was proud of the person she was and it is heartbreaking. I think he feels the same way about his other children, too, and he is unable to process why BCI doesn't believe his son has told them everything he knows.

Would you still tell LE everything if it implicated not yourself but a family member?


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[RAISINISBACK]

I can't think of any reason a GPS tracker would have been used on a TRUCK with possible involvement in "aggravated murder." If LE suspects that the truck was used for transportation of a murderer, or even if it was used in a vehicular homicide, I could see them taking DNA evidence from the inside, paint samples, tire casts, and that sort of thing. The GPS is only good for tracking a person. I've stewed on this for days, trying to think of any reason that a truck (not the driver) would be tracked, and I've got nothing. The truck doesn't drive itself. We don't know what they think JM has done or hasn't done, but LE is leaning heavy on this guy, and they obviously didn't have the evidence to get a warrant to track HIM. It doesn't sit right with me that they tracked him under false pretenses then arrested him for destroying the tracker (presumably to put more pressure on him to get him talking). If they've got nothing on this guy besides suspicion, what they are doing is harassing him.

As an Ohio resident, I've been following this case for several reasons, one of them being to find out how DeWine handles this investigation. Is he following the law, or breaking it when it is convenient to do so? My (possible) future Governor better be adhering to the law and have integrity, or he is not getting my vote. Unfortunately, so far, there are many things to raise an eyebrow at concerning the investigation of this case, not just the GPS tracker on the truck. I'll hold out judgement until all the facts are in of course, but I want to know that the Attorney General/Future Governor isn't willing to the break/bend the law when it suits him.

Why do they need to lean heavy on him and put pressure on him to get him talking? It was his sister and her entire family who was murdered not some random stranger. He should have been singing like a canary from day one. In fact they should have had to get a warrant to shut him up not to get him to talk.

 

[molly1255]

Would you still tell LE everything if it implicated not yourself but a family member?


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I have to think that I would. I hope never to have to be put into that situation!

ETA: If I had a family member who was diabolical enough to plan and then carry out eight murders, I would want them locked up so they cannot do something like this ever again.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Snipped.

They believe he is withholding information, that doesn't mean he actually is.

Maybe he wants to pursue justice himself. I'm an only child so I don't know what it feels like to lose a sister. I do have a child though. If I knew who killed my child I probably would seek revenge because there are too many ways for the courts to screw things up. I would gladly serve the sentence for what I did because it would be just in my eyes.


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You don't pursue justice for yourself. You let the law handle it. I think his not telling LE what he knows has less to do with any noble thoughts of meting out justice himself and more to do with saving his own skin.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

I can think of a couple of reasons he may be doing this:

1 He doesn't know as much as LE thinks he knows

2 He doesn't trust LE to protect him if he tells them who did it

3 He doesn't trust LE to not take the information and use it against him instead of going after the killers


People in this area don't trust LE, probably for valid reasons. Pike, Adams and other counties have had problems with corruption and criminal activity in the police departments. It's a fact. A quick google search will show that to anyone who hasn't looked.

ETA: To revisit a few of the theories we've discussed before: What if a current or former LEO was one of the killers? What if one of the killers was a relative or friend of LE? Small town, it can happen. Undercover informant?

And how much protection does he have sitting out there with the killers knowing he has information that LE wants?

As I said, he needs to cowboy up and tell what he knows in exchange for protection for his family.

 

[molly1255]

You don't pursue justice for yourself. You let the law handle it. I think his not telling LE what he knows has less to do with any noble thoughts of meting out justice himself and more to do with saving his own skin.

I think that if he was going to handle it himself, he would have done so by now. More than one year has passed.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

You stated this very well. If I were in JM's situation with the unsolved murder of my sister and her family and I found a tracker on my vehicle, I would be extremely concerned that I (and my family) might be the next targets. That apparently didn't occur to him because he took it off and he smashed it on the sidewalk. He didn't call the police when he found the tracker, and he refused to leave work to discuss the situation with BCI when they were at his house. I would have wanted to talk to BCI, at a minimum, to find out why they put the tracker on my vehicle.

Why did he automatically assume that LE put it on his truck? He did just apparently fail a polygraph and if he knew he failed, that may have raised his suspicions when he found the tracker. But on the other hand, there are killers on the loose and these weren't random killings, his sister and her family were targeted.

I'd hate to think anyone in the family could have been involved in the murders, but JM's actions make me suspicious that he knows a lot more than what he is saying and also, that he isn't concerned about being a possible target. I hope that whatever tactic LE is using on this is successful and they are able to find out what JM knows.

I hope the GJ starts handing down some indictments for murder after they find out what he is holding back.

 

[OsoTejano]

And how much protection does he have sitting out there with the killers knowing he has information that LE wants?

As I said, he needs to cowboy up and tell what he knows in exchange for protection for his family.

That is assuming that he actually knows anything about these murders that he hasn't already told LE.


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[RAISINISBACK]

Would you still tell LE everything if it implicated not yourself but a family member?


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Yes. If a family member of mine killed my sister and her entire family, they wouldn't be much of family member to me. Besides if my family member killed 8 people, most in their sleep, I sure wouldn't want them out running around free. Someone that unstable could get it into their head to kill me and my kids next.

 

[KR4ZINE]

He might not have anything more to add is what I am saying. LE got the warrant to track the truck, not JM, so I'm assuming that they have nothing more than suspicion about what he might know or what he might have done. He might not have anything else to say, but LE thinks he does and they are harassing him based on a hunch. I agree, if that was my family, you couldn't shut me up. But we're assuming that he hasn't told them everything-maybe he has!

 

[KR4ZINE]

Why do they need to lean heavy on him and put pressure on him to get him talking? It was his sister and her entire family who was murdered not some random stranger. He should have been singing like a canary from day one. In fact they should have had to get a warrant to shut him up not to get him to talk.

Sorry, my last response was in reference to this. I hit reply instead of reply with quote!

 

[RAISINISBACK]

That is assuming that he actually knows anything about these murders that he hasn't already told LE.


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You don't waste this much time and expense and manpower because of a maybe. They pretty much know for certain he is not telling everything he knows. Whatever evidence was used was in that warrant, whatever those investigators would have had to testify to, BCI does not want out in public. That's why it was kicked over to the GJ. Junk as much as said it was to protect the investigators, to keep the information secret until they could lock up the perpetrators. So until we know what they have to go on lets not assume the BCI are complete idiots out there running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

 

[KR4ZINE]

You don't waste this much time and expense and manpower because of a maybe. They pretty much know for certain he is not telling everything he knows. Whatever evidence was used was in that warrant, whatever those investigators would have had to testify to, BCI does not want out in public. That's why it was kicked over to the GJ. Junk as much as said it was to protect the investigators, to keep the information secret until they could lock up the perpetrators. So until we know what they have to go on lets not assume the BCI are complete idiots out there running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

It has crossed my mind that he is involved in something or knows about something criminal unrelated to the murders that is making him seem like a shady character to LE. Maybe he can't give details about a time frame they have asked him about because it would implicate himself or someone he knows in a totally unrelated criminal enterprise, just as an example. For all we know, the purpose of the warrant could have been to find out where he goes and what he does, whether it is related to this investigation or not, to narrow what he might be hiding so they can rule him out or in as a possible suspect.

 

[molly1255]

The tracker was to track the location of the truck now owned by JM. Has anyone else other than JM been driving that truck since JM purchased it in March 2017?