Omaha Double Murder #2

[Sin City]

I agree with TheSaint. If you have information that you are unsure about submitting you are welcome to contact any of the regulars on this thread via Personal Message and we can better advise you out of sight of the public.
I don't know if you refer to this case- if so please do contact me as I have some 'back door' resources I may be able to put you in touch with; and be careful about posting too much on this thread. Some of us have concluded long ago that the killer or killers is probably reading our posts.
I don't know if an anonymous letter would be taken seriously by LE but that may be the safest. Good luck with whatever you decide and be careful.

Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my recent post. The case I'm referring to is not the Omaha Double Murders, but another cold case.

Unfortunately I do not have any LE contacts in Omaha. Nor do I have anyone that I know that has any contacts within OPD, or Nebraska State Patrol.

This has been on my mind for days. Heavy stuff indeed.

 

[YellowDog]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my recent post. The case I'm referring to is not the Omaha Double Murders, but another cold case.

Unfortunately I do not have any LE contacts in Omaha. Nor do I have anyone that I know that has any contacts within OPD, or Nebraska State Patrol.

This has been on my mind for days. Heavy stuff indeed.

You gave me hope for awhile that someone out there knew something about this case.

Have you considered consulting with an attorney about the information you know?

 

[Sin City]

You gave me hope for awhile that someone out there knew something about this case.

Have you considered consulting with an attorney about the information you know?

YellowDog, Good point regarding consulting an attorney. Still thinking long and hard about submitting my tip in regard to this other cold case.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

YellowDog, Good point regarding consulting an attorney. Still thinking long and hard about submitting my tip in regard to this other cold case.

Sin City, Just wanted you to know that you are in my thoughts.

~Giving the thread a bump to page one in hopes of generating discussion.~

My apologies to everyone for my absence of late. My laptop crashed :waitasec:

wm

 

[YellowDog]

I was googling this case today to see if there was any news, but nothing since the Playing Cards came out.

One thing that sticks out to me is the neighbor who said Thomas got off the bus wearing shorts. It seems like it would be way too cold for shorts on March 13th in Omaha. I wonder what the temperature was that day. The reported suspect was wearing a long coat.

Did anyone else pick up on this?

 

[Snick1946]

I was googling this case today to see if there was any news, but nothing since the Playing Cards came out.

One thing that sticks out to me is the neighbor who said Thomas got off the bus wearing shorts. It seems like it would be way too cold for shorts on March 13th in Omaha. I wonder what the temperature was that day. The reported suspect was wearing a long coat.

Did anyone else pick up on this?

That day was unseasonably warm in Omaha. I remember being out on business over lunch in my shirtsleeves.
Kids here often wear shorts to school even on chilly days. School buildings tend to be overheated in Winter.
I wonder if the POI's long coat was partly to conceal something? Or do we even know it was a long coat, descriptions say it was a 'dark' coat. I always envisioned it as a short jacket.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Hi everyone! Hope all is well. My computer is still down so my sleuthing time is limited.

I don't recall ever hearing whether the perp's black coat was a jacket/short coat or a long coat. I only recall a black coat. However, my own son wore shorts to school many times during the winter months. But we are on the SE coast so the weather here is different from Omaha. I would object to my son's attire on cold days, but his argument was that those 'old teachers' are cold natured and keep the classroom too hot for him to concentrate on his schoolwork. It is what is is with these youngsters nowadays.

Anyway, you all keep up the good work here and I'll check in when I can......

wm

 

[YellowDog]

That day was unseasonably warm in Omaha. I remember being out on business over lunch in my shirtsleeves.
Kids here often wear shorts to school even on chilly days. School buildings tend to be overheated in Winter.
I wonder if the POI's long coat was partly to conceal something? Or do we even know it was a long coat, descriptions say it was a 'dark' coat. I always envisioned it as a short jacket.

This article says the stranger wore a black coat and carried a briefcase.

http://www.ratemds.com/social/?q=node/32927

This one says he wore a black suit and had a satchel over his shoulder.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2010-03/msg00536.html

So, how do we really know what he wore and whether he had a satchel
or a briefcase?

Nothing seems to be clear on this case.

 

[colette]

Over the shoulder satchel reminds me of something like a laptop bag. He could he placed knives in there.

 

[Snick1946]

Over the shoulder satchel reminds me of something like a laptop bag. He could he placed knives in there.

Maybe he actually had a laptop computer in there. If this crime was a spur of the moment thing maybe he was there on business and had the computer with him, maybe to check out a file or something that one of the victims was offering him?
The vagueness of his attire in official OPD news releases is disturbing to me. It suggests that LE either didn't try to pull all this together or didn't care as maybe they thought this was a break in gone wrong and would be resolved in a few days anyway.

 

[YellowDog]

Maybe he actually had a laptop computer in there. If this crime was a spur of the moment thing maybe he was there on business and had the computer with him, maybe to check out a file or something that one of the victims was offering him?
The vagueness of his attire in official OPD news releases is disturbing to me. It suggests that LE either didn't try to pull all this together or didn't care as maybe they thought this was a break in gone wrong and would be resolved in a few days anyway.

Everything about this case has been VAGUE from day one. The only thing we know for sure is that two people were brutally slain in broad daylight in a home in an affluent populated area of Omaha.

Great reporting, Omaha

 

[YellowDog]

Maybe he actually had a laptop computer in there. If this crime was a spur of the moment thing maybe he was there on business and had the computer with him, maybe to check out a file or something that one of the victims was offering him?
The vagueness of his attire in official OPD news releases is disturbing to me. It suggests that LE either didn't try to pull all this together or didn't care as maybe they thought this was a break in gone wrong and would be resolved in a few days anyway.

Or maybe he had something very incriminating in that satchel or briefcase.
I haven't totally ruled out a blackmail attempt of some sort.

 

[Sin City]

Maybe he actually had a laptop computer in there. If this crime was a spur of the moment thing maybe he was there on business and had the computer with him, maybe to check out a file or something that one of the victims was offering him?
The vagueness of his attire in official OPD news releases is disturbing to me. It suggests that LE either didn't try to pull all this together or didn't care as maybe they thought this was a break in gone wrong and would be resolved in a few days anyway.

To anyone's knowledge do any of the media reports indicate that this man was wearing gloves? Did anyone see him put gloves on, or see him at the Hunter's door? Maybe this is something that LE is holding back.

If neighbors, or whomever they were, saw him driving around, and walking in the neighborhood did this neighbor(s) watch this person to see where he went, and what he was up to. If the neighbor (s) watched him this much to know that he seemed lost wouldn't they have watched to see if he knocked on someone's door, and the folks in the home actually helped him, or let him in?

Does this make sense? A stranger is driving as if lost, and then seen walking in the neighborhood. He wasn't watched? Or, anyone say, "Hey, can I help you?"

For example, yesterday my husband said to me, "What's that guy doing walking along our street writing down house numbers?" I said, "He's knocking on doors asking if home owners want their house numbers painted on the curb." He knocked on our door a few days ago, and I declined his service. But, you can bet I watched him to see if he knocked on other neighbor's doors. He wasn't driving a car, and carried a backpack. I didn't see any other evidence of his working supplies. I haven't seen him actually painting any numbers, but I've seen him around town a few times with the backpack.

 

[Snick1946]

Here is one thing I will throw out for what it's worth. Your post reminded me of some earlier speculation that the POI seen walking through yards, looking for addresses, etc may not have had connection with the crime at all. He could have been someone like the guy you described, maybe offering to paint addresses, do yard work etc. It was the time of the year that we usually see those guys. From his description he may well have been someone here illegally and rather than get into hot water, just vanished without coming forward to clear things up.
It has never seemed likely to me that Shirlee would have just opened the door to someone she didnt know. Her son posted on here some time ago that this was not something she'd do. Either the POI was not who everyone thought he was or... he was there to see Tom who mayhave known he was coming. Or, he could have been someone known to the victims.
I'd love to know if the Hunters had any security system, a voice box maybe for callers to ID themselves?

 

[YellowDog]

I've always questioned in my own mind the witness who saw the stranger and saw him enter the house. Could the neighbor have been purposely pointing the finger at someone who didn't exist to divert the attention away from himself or herself? Could the killer have actually been someone from right there in the area? For some reason, I still want to connect this to the Andersons demise. Was the witness a man, woman, teenager or who? We don't know. There were burglaries in the Anderson case and burglaries in the vicinity of the Hunter home.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Hi everybody! Interesting discussion.......I have a few comments FWIW....

Sin City, I have also wondered about the perp wearing gloves. It seems to me that there should be a fingerprint on the doorbell if he wasn't wearing them. However, i do not know if the Hunter home even has a doorbell. It seems to me that this perp 'knew' when Tom would be having his afternoon snack in the upstairs dining room and arrived at a time when he knew Tom would answer the door. MOO

Snick1946, If the mysterious dark skinned man was going door to door seeking odd jobs then IMO neighbors would have reported these visits to LE. That makes sense to me anyway. Of course, we have no way of knowing. However, I did hear a RUMOR that missionaries were visiting homes in Dundee in the days prior to the murders. That is only RUMOR, I'd like to make that clear for everyone.

YellowDog, You may be right about the perp being someone in the neighborhood and I admire you for standing by your opinion after all this time. You got me to thinking about the grouchy old bus driver in FL who went out to confront skateboarders in a park across the street from his house and he weilded a gun and went out to confront them and ended up fatally shooting a dad in front of his own daughter.

This leads to my curiosity of Tom's movements throughout the Dundee neighborhood. Did he skate? Did he have friends in the neighborhood who he visited? Did he cut through neighbors yards as a shortcut to visit friends? did he step on someone's flower bed..... taunt someone's dog......accidentally see something he shouldn't have (burglary?), etc., in his neighborhood travels? You have offered a whole new perspective, my friend!

Maybe LE needs to go back to the beginning and review the notes from the initial interviews and see if something stands out. And also question Tom's friends again who he probably would have shared if there was something going on with a neighbor that made him uncomfortable.

MOO

wm

 

[Snick1946]

WM, I can confirm those rumors. Without telling too much about how I know, there were Jehovah Wittness' missionaries going through that area as late as that afternoon. In fact, some of them on their own contacted LE after the killings to report seeing suspicious activity about a block from the Hunter home. This was something that would not have been reported were it not for the fact of the killings and they then felt it had some signifigance. Have to be careful here, but it involved a sighting of two men, apparently in different cars, talking on cell phones. I dont know what if anything ever came of it.
The POI was seen starting and stopping. I would like to visit that area perhaps this weekend to check out a theory. Are the addresses painted on curbside? Could this POI have been looking to see if anyone needed their address repainted?

 

[waltzingmatilda]

WM, I can confirm those rumors. Without telling too much about how I know, there were Jehovah Wittness' missionaries going through that area as late as that afternoon. In fact, some of them on their own contacted LE after the killings to report seeing suspicious activity about a block from the Hunter home. This was something that would not have been reported were it not for the fact of the killings and they then felt it had some signifigance. Have to be careful here, but it involved a sighting of two men, apparently in different cars, talking on cell phones. I dont know what if anything ever came of it.
The POI was seen starting and stopping. I would like to visit that area perhaps this weekend to check out a theory. Are the addresses painted on curbside? Could this POI have been looking to see if anyone needed their address repainted?

Snick, thanks for the info.

Sooo...Let's say the 'missionaries' were actually 'posers' who were actually casing houses in the neighborhood for thieving. Did these 'missionaries' pass out any flyers in the neighborhood? If so, from where did the flyers originate?

Can you elaborate on the suspicous activity one block from the Hunter home? No pressure...I am nosy. The reported 'two men in different cars talking on cell phones' intrigues me.

Your question regarding the POI soliciting addresses to be repainted is interesting. I had not thought of anything like that!

Please keep us posted! MOO

wm

 

[YellowDog]

WM, I can confirm those rumors. Without telling too much about how I know, there were Jehovah Wittness' missionaries going through that area as late as that afternoon. In fact, some of them on their own contacted LE after the killings to report seeing suspicious activity about a block from the Hunter home. This was something that would not have been reported were it not for the fact of the killings and they then felt it had some signifigance. Have to be careful here, but it involved a sighting of two men, apparently in different cars, talking on cell phones. I dont know what if anything ever came of it.
The POI was seen starting and stopping. I would like to visit that area perhaps this weekend to check out a theory. Are the addresses painted on curbside? Could this POI have been looking to see if anyone needed their address repainted?

Snick, I think if the suspect was going door to door in the neighborhood there would be a more defined description of him.

I think I stated this before but when my cleaning lady is at my house, she will not answer the door or the telephone. She will just let the bell ring and ignore the door and/or the phone.

I'd like to know who stated that Shirlee Sherman answered the door. How could they tell from another property who answered the door? They must have very good eyesight.

I would also like to know what was taken in the burglaries around the Hunter home and what was taken from the Anderson home. It could have been something as small as a prescription pad since both homes were owned by doctors. If it was a desperate durg addict, he would be looking for the quickest method to obtain his next fix. He would want money, something he could pawn or sell quickly or a prescription even if he had to write it himself.

 

[Snick1946]

In a heavily discussed case such as this, it sometimes is helpful to go back and re-read some of the early posts. Sometimes things get overlooked or did not seem important at the time that later are.
I was looking at the early posts in the original thread. There is a long article that was pasted I believe from the World Herald early right after the killings. In that article it is alleged that wittnesses saw the POI on the front porch of the Hunter home. It still doesnt say anyone saw him enter but this sounds at least like we may have been correct in thinking someone let him in via the front door. Given what we know from Shirlee's family this would fit with her not leaving the back door open or unlocked.
It would also lead me to think that the perp was there to see Tom, not Shirlee. Also the article refers to 'multiple' wounds to the victim's necks. This was a detail I'd not noted before. Sounds a bit less like the clinical crime scene some had spoken of.