University professor, wife killed in Nebraska *Arrest Made*

[norest4thewicked]

This is horrible! I have a daughter who is an alumni of Creighton and still lives in Omaha. Omaha is a relatively "small town" for these types of murders. Very frightening!

 

[waltzingmatilda]

It is very frightening, NoRest! Especially for those staff members at CU in the pathology dept. I can't imagine how I would feel.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

http://www.omaha.com/article/201305...ides-meet-with-creighton-staff-about-security

Omaha's police chief will talk Monday with some Creighton University faculty members about their security concerns after the unsolved murders last week of a pathology professor and his wife.

Chief Todd Schmaderer also will make his first public comments about the homicides at 1 p.m. Monday. Follow Omaha.com for the latest as details become available.

Dr. Poonam Sharma, chairwoman of pathology, said Saturday she invited Schmaderer to address concerned members of the Creighton community, and he agreed to do so.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Link to video of press conference at link.

http://www.omaha.com/article/201305...for-ties-between-new-slayings-and-dundee-case

 

[Snick1946]

I had difficulty linking to the video but then checked live TV and it was being broadcast. I think there were a lot of people trying to downstream. The authorities are keeping a tight reign on any details, which is perhaps best. It does sound as if they are concluding a link between the crimes. I was interested in the chief's comment when asked about the task force that 'If I were the killer, I wouldn't want these people coming after me'.

One clue as to the nature of the murder scene: last night channel 3 10 PM news as the lead story showed the arrival of a van at the Brumbach home- from a company that does crime scene cleanups. Of course none of them would comment on what they found. I'd bet it was horrific.

I think we may be in for a period of time in which we hear nothing from LE.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Thanks much for the update, Snick. I couldn't watch the presser either at the link I provided above...it just kept playing the same 20 sec clip over and over. If you find a link to the whole presser please post.

I'd be shaking in my boots if I were the killer. The FBI and NE state police are on it now. I doubt we will be hearing alot either because I bet they are combing physical evidence, computers, etc. found at the scene. I guess the scene has been cleared if the crime scene cleanup company was at the residence last evening?

I feel so sad that the Drs. Hunter are reliving this all over again. I am having flashbacks of what little was shown on AMW ot the crime scene at the Hunter home. I cannot imagine how they must feel. I hope they have a good support system surrounding them and wish the same for the Brumback family.

 

[Reader]

I didn't have a problem with the video posted but here is a link to the police dept. FB page that has it also:

https://www.facebook.com/OmahaPoliceDepartment

Some quotes from waltzingmatilda's link on the press conference:

http://www.omaha.com/article/2013052...nd-dundee-case

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer announced Monday he has formed a task force to look into possible ties between the deaths of Dr. Roger Brumback and Mary Brumback, both 65, and the March 13, 2008, fatal stabbings of Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman, 57, inside the Hunter family's Dundee home. The task force's sole assignment is to solve the four homicides.

<modsnip>

Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP (7867), or log on to omahacrimestoppers.net, or text OPD and your tip to CRIMES (274637) or through the mobile iPhone/Android app &#8220;Tip Submit.&#8221; Tipsters always remain anonymous.

 

[Kip]

I saw a bit on CNN where they interviewed a couple of medical students at the graduation ceremony. One said the Pathology Dept was relatively small - only 12 staff. I assume they meant 12 professors on staff and weren't counting any administrative or lab staff.

 

[raindownonme]

Kip, that is correct. I work for another hospital in Omaha and we also have 12 pathologists on staff. We have over 100 other staff in the pathology department. Many of my co-workers have known Dr. Brumback throughout the years, and they all say nothing but good things about him. It is so sad to lose someone who contributed so much to Alzheimer's and brain research.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Today's news.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/...-Brumback-and-Dundee-Homicides-208164621.html

http://www.omaha.com/article/201305...unt-for-ties-between-new-slayings-dundee-case

 

[marycarney]

Thoughts:

The pathologists 'missed' a diagnosis of a loved one and revenge is the motive. (Least likely in my book: Pathologists do not work in groups on your run of the mill diagnostic stuff.)
The pathologists published findings about something, and left out a colleague from the credits. (Semi-likely: Sounds petty, can be wildly important in the academic world.)
The commonality of pathology as a career is incidental, the two killings may be connected, but the victims could be linked by a career in insurance and the outcome would be the same. In other words, the killings are linked because the victims/ families knew each other only. (Unlikely? IDK)
Two random killings - a tragic coincidence.

What else?

 

[Snick1946]

Thoughts:

The pathologists 'missed' a diagnosis of a loved one and revenge is the motive. (Least likely in my book: Pathologists do not work in groups on your run of the mill diagnostic stuff.)
The pathologists published findings about something, and left out a colleague from the credits. (Semi-likely: Sounds petty, can be wildly important in the academic world.)
The commonality of pathology as a career is incidental, the two killings may be connected, but the victims could be linked by a career in insurance and the outcome would be the same. In other words, the killings are linked because the victims/ families knew each other only. (Unlikely? IDK)
Two random killings - a tragic coincidence.

What else?

I had mentioned one idea I had that someone at CU is obsessed with the idea that some 'evil' is being done in the Pathology department- It wouldn't need to be a CU staffer, it could easily be someone in the public- and, this is their way of making themselves some instrument of God to punish the evildoers. It could be related to some experimental processes done in Pathology. Some of our contributors have already mentioned that no stem cell research is going on, but someone might still think it is. Is there anything involving animals going on there? There are unstable individuals in the animal Rights movement.

To me however, the gap between these killings suggests some strong deeply personal motive. Five years wait between killings suggests a lot of anger on some personal level. I think OPD checked the hell out of student records in 2008 for angry ex Pathology students.

 

[marycarney]

I can't think of anything that would be done on animals in a patho lab. A vet patho lab, sure, but not an MD pathologist.

And then you have to figure in that the killer(s) didn't actually succeed in killing the original target - if the first pathologist WAS the original target. I wonder if further attempts have been made on his life?

Please don't misinterpret the next statement, it is not meant to sound disrespectful in any way- but this is going to make a great true-crime book when it's solved.

 

[Reader]

I think this link/article has also been posted on the other thread but some quotes caught my eye:

http://www.omaha.com/article/201305...ation-of-double-homicides-is-casting-wide-net

&#8220;The investigation has to be multidimensional, looking in all different directions,'' said Gregg McCrary, a former FBI criminal profiler. &#8220;Obviously there's interest in whether it could be connected to the pathology department. Or it could be just some bizarre coincidence.''

Said Mike Butera, a former Omaha police captain in the criminal investigation bureau who now teaches criminal justice at Bellevue University:

&#8220;Looking at it from the outside, it's easy to connect those dots and make assumptions about potential connections to another case. But assumptions are dangerous, because they could lead you to something different than what the facts are showing.''

On Friday, May 10, Brumback attended a meeting in Lincoln as a member of the Nebraska Board of Medicine and Surgery, the licensing board for physicians in Nebraska.

Brumback was not due to work again at Creighton until the following Tuesday. He didn't show up for work that day, and it was later that morning that the bodies of Brumback and his wife were found. While police have not said when they believe the deaths occurred, it appears in their questioning at one point last week that they were focusing on a time frame between Sunday night and Monday.

If the slayings are linked, it would be quite unusual for someone to commit related killings five years apart, said McCrary, the former FBI profiler who now lives near Washington, D.C. But it can happen, he said, particularly if there's a precipitating event that rekindles an old grudge.

&#8220;It sounds to me like they're doing the right thing, looking for commonality and seeing if there are links between the cases,'' he said.

I'm wondering if a 'precipitating event' could be the Brumback's retirement and plans to move shortly. Even if the 2 cases are not linked, maybe someone wanted to get to the Brumbacks before they left the area, which leads to the idea that it's someone local who knew about their plans.

 

[jjenny]

Thoughts:

The pathologists 'missed' a diagnosis of a loved one and revenge is the motive. (Least likely in my book: Pathologists do not work in groups on your run of the mill diagnostic stuff.)
The pathologists published findings about something, and left out a colleague from the credits. (Semi-likely: Sounds petty, can be wildly important in the academic world.)
The commonality of pathology as a career is incidental, the two killings may be connected, but the victims could be linked by a career in insurance and the outcome would be the same. In other words, the killings are linked because the victims/ families knew each other only. (Unlikely? IDK)
Two random killings - a tragic coincidence.

What else?

Publishing something and leaving colleague out usually results in complains to the publisher, not murder. I don't see that as a plausible motive.

 

[marycarney]

Maybe not - but you must admit that murderers are not necessarily bound by the laws of logic. And a grudge - a long-held grudge - is not an infrequent motive for murder.

 

[marycarney]

Nothing new?????

 

[Reader]

Nothing new?????

None that I can find today in the links I have, but the chief said they would only release information when it was to their advantage, so......I'll keep checking.

 

[Pensfan]

Thoughts:

The pathologists 'missed' a diagnosis of a loved one and revenge is the motive. (Least likely in my book: Pathologists do not work in groups on your run of the mill diagnostic stuff.)
The pathologists published findings about something, and left out a colleague from the credits. (Semi-likely: Sounds petty, can be wildly important in the academic world.)
The commonality of pathology as a career is incidental, the two killings may be connected, but the victims could be linked by a career in insurance and the outcome would be the same. In other words, the killings are linked because the victims/ families knew each other only. (Unlikely? IDK)
Two random killings - a tragic coincidence.

What else?

-a severely disgruntled or mentally ill former medical student
-a severely disgruntled or mentally ill employee (past or present) of the university
-someone who is trying to conceal the motive of the first murder by leading the FBI/police on a wild goose chase

When you get a pathology report back from a university lab, the result doesn't specify which pathologist examined the specimen. The bill only lists the department like "University of Pittsburgh Physicians Pathology". Maybe some sicko is trying to "punish" all of the pathology department because he/she doesn't know the pathologist that incorrectly read a specimen? It seems logical to think that the sicko previously shot the housekeeper not knowing that this person was not a university pathologist or his wife.

 

[Pensfan]

Quote (from post above on this page)
On Friday, May 10, Brumback attended a meeting in Lincoln as a member of the Nebraska Board of Medicine and Surgery, the licensing board for physicians in Nebraska.

Brumback was not due to work again at Creighton until the following Tuesday. He didn't show up for work that day, and it was later that morning that the bodies of Brumback and his wife were found. While police have not said when they believe the deaths occurred, it appears in their questioning at one point last week that they were focusing on a time frame between Sunday night and Monday.

Did Dr. Brumback just return from a meeting where he had voted to terminate or suspend someone's medical license? What was the purpose of that meeting? Was his license in jeopardy?