I've read the WS forums for years and just registered because of this case. I read about it initially in 2008, saw the first broadcast of the 48 Hours show, and didn't pay to much mind til I got caught up in a conversation about it right after the trial started. Am a lifelong resident of Arizona, but my interest was PTSD with memory loss of the Trauma (OMG), because I too, have PTSD, but w/ALL the memories...but that's on another thread.
Just wanted to make a few observations:
Taken into fact that this occurred in June of 2008.....
1. The port of entry at the Hoover dam was in a different place, and "post 911", there was a closer scrutiny of vehicles. JA wouldn't have gone through with an upside down license plate w/o being stopped. (I believe her plate was turned upside down in Utah, to give an "Official" alibi to her story, via Law Enforcement)
2. Arizona only requires the rear license plate. Removing the front would allow the vehicle to be backed into a parking area and not be "identified" unless a person got behind the vehicle to read the plate.
3. Most of the main highways coming and going between Calif. and Ariz. were heavily watched on the Az side by DPS, Border Patrol, and County Sheriff Depts. due to the upsurge in drug cartel trafficking. A single female, driving a rental, with an upside down plate, and the weight of 15 gallons of gas in cans in the trunk weighing the rear of the vehicle down more than usual, would be enough for any Law Enforcement Officer to pull her over. Run that by any of your Law Enforcement friends and they'll tell you it smells like drug running, if not just strongly suspicious of something. (My bro in Law is retired Law Enforcement)
4. JA worked at a restaurant, which more than likely had "Professional Grade" chef's knives in the food prep area. These are far more sharper than the regular knives found in the average home kitchen. None of the knives photo'd at the scene looked like they could have been used. We raise our own meat for the freezer, and have to continually sharpen the knives we use when processing, and these are knives specifically made for the job. J/S
5. In 2008, you were still required to have a CCW in Ariz, if you had a concealed weapon on you, or concealed in your vehicle. JA would more than likely have disposed of the .25 cal immediately in case she was stopped by Law Enforcement. (Upside down plate would have made it a done deal driving through Mesa, Phoenix, or the highways surrounding)
6. The above brings up the issue of:
a.) Why would Travis have a .25 cal, a "boot/vest" gun preferred by women because of it's small size
b.) If he bought it for protection outside of the home, he would have needed a CCW, unless he wore it unconcealed in a holster (ok, it's a mute point, no one carries a .25 cal unconcealed, it's small to specifically BE concealed)
c.) As a gun owner, wouldn't he have felt the obligation to tell the other 2 adults in his household that there was a fire arm in the house
d.) If it was for protection, why wasn't it in his night stand, instead of back on the top shelf of his closet
e.) No one buys one .25 cal FMJ hollow point mag bullet, or 7, if you believe it had a 7 cartridge magazine, (it wasn't a revolver because of the spent shell casing) you can't, you have to buy a BOX....... so where's the box
f.) Where's the gun cleaning kit/holster
g.) Why would he not tell his friend he went shooting with
Just some random thoughts. I don't believe Travis had expected her, she snuck in like she had in the past, took pics of him on the bed as he was just waking up and he threw her out. She later came back, hid, and waited for him to be otherwise occupied and took pics of herself with the timer on the camera, (hey, we all know she's beyond strange) secrets herself again until he's in the shower and surprises him. The bed linens were thrown in the washer because she laid on them for her pics and wasn't going to take any chances. The fibers? She possibly used a throw pillow off his bed or chair to silence the gun (No GSR, stippling, etc,) and took it with her.
Another very odd, and possibly telling, item. An inmate at the Estrella jail told NG (on camera) that JA told her she was in there because she had killed her pedophile BF, dismembered, and "scattered" him around the county. (I ended up watching that because it had been inserted during the noon break of a trial day video on Youtube) Did JA's original plan not go the way it had been arranged? The neck wound was far more extreme than one would expect, unless?
Just my random thought, folks, had to purge them. :desert:
