@CloudedTruth
i read det. arndt's notes last night. (not sure if board rules allow them to be posted here...) i find her to be a credible and diligent observer. although we don't have an independent check on the accuracy for much of it (which i'm sure is often the case), they have a thoroughness and caution to them that makes me take them seriously. it's almost like reading a scientist's lab notes. at least going by those notes, she seems neither crazy nor dumb as a lot of commentary i've seen suggests.
does it move the needle for me on her interpretation of the "nonverbal exchange" with JR? a little? though i still worry about subjectivity and ambiguity of it. ... and i still feel like many of JR's early actions and statements are hard to reconcile with him being involved, at least early on.
here's where it did move me. i learned a lot of little things, and am now basically certain RDI. JR didn't just say all the doors were locked. he said very few people were given keys, and he named them all. he said no keys were lost or stolen, and there were no hidden ones outside. ... it is close to impossible to imagine how an intruder even
could have gotten into this house. no tracks in the snow, doors and windows all locked, and no signs of forced entry. not many keys floating around, and i assume the people who had them were looked at closely. no dirt tracked in from the outdoors. are we to believe this intruder was james bond? ... and that james bond hung around for a long time after murdering JBR, staging a nonsensical crime scene and writing an obviously fake ransom note (for
what purpose)? was comfortable visiting every floor of the house. did it without waking anyone. was nice enough to put away the notepad. knew the amount of john's bonus. etc. ... yeah, this is ridiculous.
incidentally, i also learned that an officer (weiss?) was photographing the exterior of the house shortly after 8 am (?). i don't know whether any or all of these pictures are public. obviously there are a bunch on acandyrose etc., but iirc (?) that's a small selection and not all of them were taken early in the day. ... anyway, thorough exterior pictures a little after 8 should have captured the state of the snow on the ground before it melted, and should settle both the questions of whether there were footprints and how certain we should be that an intruder would have made some.