One of the Best TV Episodes Ever

 

I’ve been talking up the 911 on Fox episode of April 27, 2020. It ranks in my top three episodes ever on a TV show. Buck, a firefighter, made a daring rescue and wanted to celebrate. He is still pining over his former girlfriend. Everyone at the station had plans, most with significant others, which he does not have. He went to a bar and sat next to a retired firefighter, Red, who was always consumed by his job. They became friends. Buck went to Red’s home and saw a photo of a woman from a long time ago. He inquired about her. Buck ends up finding out that her spouse died. He takes Red to her home to get them reacquainted. It turns out she has Alzheimer's and didn’t recognize him. He was kicked out. Red is mad at Buck. He has mesothelioma and a heart attack and goes to the hospital. Red, who has no one in his life, eventually forgives Buck. Red advised Buck all along, don’t work too hard and don’t have any regrets. When the man is discharged, in dramatic fashion, Buck arranges for firefighters to stand at the exit and salute and applaud his way to a seat on a fire truck, one last time before he died. The song, "Keep Me In Your Heart," by Warren Zevon, which I had never heard, is playing. I’ve played it numerous times a day since. Shouldn’t all of our heroes be recognized that way?

My other two favorites are M*A*S*H when the doctors arrange the clock so the soldier doesn’t die on Christmas Day so that his family won’t always have to remember that. And on Northern Exposure when Holling arranges a Christmas mass for his girlfriend, Shelly, though they were an odd couple. She was dejected that she wouldn’t have her childhood memories. They were in Alaska. She walks to a little church and it is aglow with candles and Hollings steps out singing Ave Maria.

Crime Con 2022 Part 2

 

Manipulation

Have you ever written someone in jail? The woman who spoke about Manipulation of the Mind at Crime Con does so for research. We manipulate and are manipulated.  Manipulation is attempting to change your mind or behavior to get you to do what I want. TV does it. Political candidates do it. For instance, a prisoner wrote her and started with Dr., then Kimberlie, then, Kim, then Kimmie, then dearest. That tries to make an emotional connection. Other common techniques are playing on insecurities. They talk you up so you want them by you. They lie then deny. They move the goalpost—lose five pounds, but 10 would be better. They use fear and threats. They are passive-aggressive, giving backhanded compliments. They use the silent treatment. They recruit others.

She said Florida is one state that pays nothing to inmates. Typically, wages range from 14 cents to $2/hour for prison maintenance labor. In Massachusetts, half of an inmate’s wages go to pay for expenses after release and in New Mexico, 15-50 percent goes to a Crime Victims Reparations Fund, discharge money and family support. Jobs can be outside the facility. In Nebraska, for instance, inmates clean the governor’s mansion. Trustees work at our Capitol. Inside prison jobs might include cooking food, washing laundry or custodial work.

The Thing About the Thing About Pam

Russ said he was not guilty to police 77 times. They did the lie detector test after he had been up 36 hours and held in an 8x10 room for 24 of them. Joel's 12-year-old son, while hearing him read aloud about the case, even said, "That lady did it." Joel called her lies Pam-isms. Here's one: I got it, but I didn't. In Missouri, it usually takes 10 to 14 years for a case to be overturned in appeal. Theirs took less than two. Joel seemed overly humble to me. I don't know if you can defame the dead, but the lesbian story should not be how Betsy is known. Pam-ism.

Exhumations

Exhumations have been done as many as six times on one body. Sometimes there may be a letter in the casket. Casket tags have to match and the toe tag from the first post-mortem. Sometimes plots are sold more than once? You must seek permission for exhumation because it is a vital record.

Forensic Entomology

There are only 30 forensic entomologists in the country. Only two are in aquatics. They study insects on dead things. Been here long? Yes, it began in the 13th century in China. A veterinarian is the most trusted expert witness today. Not even a doctor, the Crime Con presenter said. The study of lice, mites and tics can provide links to places and time. Paths of travel on cars can be studied. Better wash yours well if you committed a crime. There are stinging studies and neglect (elderly, children). Entomophobia causes car and plane wrecks. Gravesite tophonomy is a real thing.  Insects can dig six feet.  Water and plastic are barriers to the forensic studies. They are harder to study in freezing weather. There are three body farms to study the decomposition of a human corpse. He talked about dolphin poaching—arrows, gunshots, heads bashed in with gaffing hooks. He believes in maggot therapy. He said we all eat two pounds of insects a year, not knowing it. There is a hotel bedbug detector site.

Capital Punishment

Describe the death penalty in one word. This was a question a Crime Con presenter asked. He studied the 46 executions in 2010 and wrote a book. There have been 16,032 done since executions began, which was 1608. They have been bludgeoned, burned at the stake and fastened to a wagon wheel and dropped from a large height. The reasons were murder, burglary, adultery, piracy and witchcraft. In 1834, Pennsylvania got uncomfortable with the death penalty and banned public executions. There are 130 people on Death Row there now; they have executed three since 1976. The last public execution in the U.S. was in 1936 in Kentucky. 20,000 people have been known to show up for one. 27 states still have the death penalty and 23 do not. Some have a moratorium. In Alabama and Florida, a judge can overrule a 12-0 jury that convicted. Eleven people were executed last year and there are 2,474 people on death rows. California has 700 on death row and executed 13 in the last 30 years. South Carolina has reinstituted the firing squad where death is said to come in 15 seconds. Lethal injections can take 20 minutes.

Anthrax

Remember the anthrax crimes three weeks after 9/11? The investigation included looking for mysterious deaths, searching biocontainment labs, interviewing veterinarians and using bloodhounds. There was no human DNA or prints on the pre-stamped envelopes with a Trenton postmark. The ink was common. He used a bogus return address. When two postal employees died of the five killed, the criminal was upset. He was a fan of blue-collar workers, but not Tom Brokaw, the New York Post or Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahay. Seventeen people were injured. The presenter took a vaccine to protect himself from getting the disease caused by the bacteria.

From a show on TV afterwards. There was a million-dollar reward. 2,200 workers in the USPS facility were concerned.  Dogs on Capitol Hill got Cipro before they did. Postal machines were running at 35 m.p.h., possibly spewing spores. Their class action suit was dismissed.

Ryan Duke

Look for the Ryan Duke trial this week in the 2005 death of Tara Grinstead, a former Georgia beauty queen and teacher. There was nothing missing at her home and a glove was found with her DNA and the alleged killer's, Ryan Duke. The gloves had his DNA and were said to pick up dog poo, in the defendant's defense. There was apparently a scene in the bedroom where later plastic off of a lamp was found. Duke’s friend Bo Dukes is in prison for this case. This was the announcement nobody knows yet that can be proven: He did not call from a pay phone to her home.

Gen Why

Gen Why talked about a police officer named Chris Horner and whether he was murdered or committed suicide in Florida on Cemetery Road in 1998 after reporting an abandoned car. Six years later, an inmate said he did it with many others. They were bank robbers and Horner stumbled upon their car. His body radio was not working. He knew one of the men and they must have decided to kill him because of that. Some of his co-workers thought it was suicide because he was face down with a gunshot wound behind his left ear and there was no sign of a struggle.  He worked three jobs, had six kids and a wife charged with Food Stamp fraud. They had $40,000 in credit card debt. He had only been a police officer for 14 months. Thank goodness the jail dude’s aunt threatened to rat his story out if he didn’t do so himself.

Susan Powell

Red flags on the Susan Powell case. She left a note in case something happened to her, husband was known to lock her out and he didn’t work. He acted like he did by posting a Realtor ad with the wrong phone number. He googled Amanda Knox and stain removers. Her life insurance was $3.5 million. Washington lost a multimillion case for the way it handled the visitation.  The attorney said she always has a theme song for each case. This one was “Get Together” by the Youngbloods--Make the mountains ring or the angels cry. There was a “Death Lies Here” sign in thug’s shed. They have checked a mine for Susan’s body, but gas was poured down it. The kids had mentioned she was by the bushes and by the blueberries. There are 35,000 pages on the case at https://www.ksl.com/article/25263938/west-valley-city-photos-documents-relating-to-the-susan-powell-case

Paul Holes

Paul Holes said for people seeking answers in a cold case to keep showing that the family wants answers and work your way up the chain of command if you need to.

911

A 911 dispatcher with a million calls under his belt said there are seven calls to 911 in the U.S. every second. Once a week he gets a call from a drive-through from someone unhappy with his order. He said because 9 took a long time to dial on a rotary phone that the U.S. used 911 instead of 999 that Britain did.

Real Killer

In Real Killer, Rodney Lincoln was sent to prison after a murdered woman’s daughter at age 7 identified him as her mother’s killer. His conviction was reviewed as one of six out of an initial 1,400 cases in an innocence project. When the daughter was old enough to read reports and newspapers, she saw a sketch that really looked like someone else.  After 36 years, the Missouri governor commuted his sentence. Lincoln said he can’t describe the joy, but he felt it.

Long Island Killer

Dirty cop or Long Island Killer? James Burke is a former Suffolk County Police Chief who got shrouded in accusations of being involved in Long Island serial killings after rumors of his prior involvements with local sex workers came to light. Burke refused to let the FBI examine the killings. He assaulted Christopher Loeb, an admitted heroin addict who had broken into Burke’s department-issued vehicle to steal his duffle bag that Loeb claimed contained sex toys and porn. In 2016, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to depriving a person of civil rights and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice. That same year, an escort came out to pose allegations of rough sex by him. She saw him use drugs. Between 1996 and the 2010 discovery of one set of human remains at Oak Beach in Suffolk County, 10 people fell victim to suspected homicide. Shannan Gilbert left the home of a client and was driven to Oak Beach by a driver, who later received a call from the client to take Gilbert home after she reportedly became irrational and erratic. Although multiple searches were conducted in the vicinity of where Gilbert was last seen, her body was not discovered until 18 months after she was first reported missing. More remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway. All worked as Craigslist escorts and were last seen between July 2007 and September 2010.  Several months later, the remains of another woman who worked as an escort were discovered several miles east of where the Gilgo Beach Four were found. More remains were found there. One was a female toddler, another was an Asian male in female clothing, and eventually the baby’s mother known as “Peaches” due to a bitten heart-shaped tattoo of a peach on her body. Current Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison has now at long last established a multi-agency task force that includes representatives from the FBI, New York State Police, Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office to reinvigorate the investigation and bring the person or persons responsible for these crimes to justice. FYI. Many of the torsos were found apart from the rest of the bodies. There is a body location map.

Undercover Agent

Bob Delaney went undercover as Bobby Covert, odd, yes, but it was a deceased person’s name at birth and he would now like to meet his family. He was a N.J. trooper who went undercover to bust the mob. He and five others opened a trucking company and an arrest record was created for him. He said it was like wearing a costume. Yes, he got scared to the point of throwing up and getting diarrhea. Some mobsters got arrested and became informants. Some told him thank you for breaking the chain. He later was a referee in kids’ basketball and then the NBA. It was therapy. He does see good in society. He defines organized crime as an ongoing conspiracy which uses fear and corruption in an attempt to make money and/or gain power within a community/society.

“Nowhere is Italian in there,” he said. He discusses PTSD back to the days of Sophocles when he wrote warriors did not know how to act. In the Civil War it was called a soldier’s heart. The WWI term was shell shocked; WWII was battle fatigue. For Korea and Vietnam, it was flashbacks. He has a book called Heroes are Human, Lessons in Resilience, Courage and Wisdom from the COVID Front Lines.

Genomics

The test kit for a target test of consensual DNA of an inferred relative in the investigation of the Golden State Killer cost $217. Six worked the DNA angle. It took 63 days. Regular police work over 43 years cost $10 million, took 650 detectives and agents over 200,000 hours. He was not a suspect before the DNA test.  DNA databases are 80 percent white.  The Wisconsin DNA Databank is responsible for receiving, verifying acceptability and processing reference DNA samples from convicted offenders and a subset of arrestees. It contains over 300,000 offender and arrestee DNA profiles.   Under California law, law enforcement is required to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony crime. Even if the individual is never convicted or charged, the state may keep a DNA sample just based on the arrest. The color of your eyes on your license could come into play when they run an ancestry possibility study.

Reasonable Doubt

I can understand where someone may move things around so the victim's death would not look like a suicide. But not when she is tied and taped. This was in the Reasonable Doubt session. As a potential juror, you have to wonder if the lineup was suggestive (one person with a hoodie, one person with short hair and being THE suspect) and whether witnesses are visually impaired. There's something rare called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome that may have affected one case.

Interviewing

Fil Waters, a Houston detective with a 96 percent solve rate, talked about interviewing. First, investigators need to establish control and then share a little bit of themselves. “I’m a father, too.” It is about finding the right person who did the wrong thing.

Three Large Cities

A panel of homicide detectives from large cities said it takes speed, strength and smarts. One had a pic of dog poop on a person’s phone to establish their alibi. Google geofencing is the hot thing. I am awaiting a Google takeout of myself. Cases go cold because of bad crime samples, uncooperative witnesses and heavy caseloads.

Finding Justice

Funding Justice is helping solve crimes in Las Vegas. It’s like crowdfunding cold cases (philanthropy). Vegas solves 94 percent of murder cases. A Mississippi woman is funding the investigation of all unidentified remains there.

West Memphis Three and Wrongful Convictions

I watched the talk on the West Memphis Three and Wrongful Convictions (they begin with tunnel vision). They still did not convince me the owl killed that North Carolina lady.

Genetic DNA

There was a speaker from Othram and they can use one-trillionth of a gram for DNA.

Black Widower

Anyone remember the freak man on Dateline who was married six times and four of the wives died? He was acquitted of No. 2 and it was called a suicide. Not so lucky on No. 6. One had cancer and one had open heart surgery. He had kids with the first one. He wore pigtails and a Tony Romo shirt in court. He claimed to shoot an intruder when it was really somebody he set up to do it. A neighbor outside happened to be on his cell phone and the shots can be heard and timed. Freako did not call 911 for 15 minutes. Busted. Also, there were no gunshots in the ski mask when he said he shot the “intruder” in the head. I was glad to hear there is a slayer statute where the murderer is not entitled to the estate if he killed the decedent. Unfortunately, his conviction has been overturned in Nevada. Something to do with priors.

Sheryl McCollum

She once wrote a letter to J. Edgar Hoover about being an agent. He told her to stay in school, that there were not a lot of females back then.

Jeffrey Epstein

He would give a finder’s fee to the young girls who would get paid to “massage” him. This web of girls was three or four a day no matter where he was—New York, New Mexico, Florida or the island. Sea urchins were planted around that island so girls could not escape, because an attorney went there and tried to. He had moles in the FBI. It was all about control. He was the type who every day had two sprays of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on his muffin. Not one, not three. Girls opened doors for him. He attempted suicide once before the final one and guards were arrested for not checking on him. He influenced them was the word used. All victims who wanted to got to speak at his dismissal case since his suicide allowed no trial. There were many correct judge rulings in this absurdity—no bail and this. When they were about to chicken out, the attorney got them a wig and they were allowed to come in back doors to avoid the media. It was ruled that court drawings could have no distinguishing features.

 

I didn’t watch Gil, Coursen, romance scams, Kim Goldman, detecting lies, Cats, Nancy Grace, Chris Hansen or Delphi because they are repeat guest of prior years. The serial killer one was awful. There was one about bias, but now I can’t find my notes.

 

Crime Con 2022 Part 1

 

I watched 45 sessions of 2022 Crime Con since April 30. There were nine repeat speakers so I didn’t do those. If you’ve followed the posts, you’ve learned how to survive an active shooter, why a rape victim speaks out, the horrible crime of eight nurses murdered in the same house, the latest from John Ramsey, Dr. Cyril Wecht, the Vegas shooter, the missing orphans in Tuam, a stolen infant, profiling, manipulation and spying, exhumation, the Tylenol case and my ever favorite Dateline, etc.

JonBenet

Please sign the petition that asks the governor of Colorado to have the remaining DNA taken out of Boulder. We need a genealogical DNA test ASAP! John Ramsey just said "government moves based on public pressure." He said the killer is a "deranged, subhuman creature." He also wants child murder to be a federal offense.  It is selfish and unprofessional of the incompetent Boulder Police Department to hold on to this sample.

I was in the camp of the family did it for years. I no longer think so with their DNA cleared and their handwriting being a 5 no chance for John Ramsey and 4.5 no chance for Patsy. The Santa DNA was not a match and he was not strong. The number of his bonus, $118,000, in the ransom note would make him look dumb if he used it. The note also never mentioned JonBenet's name or used a cuss word, the Crime Con moderator said. To me, that shows distancing/someone who did know her. Perhaps someone was angry at Ramsey.

Four doctors found no prior sexual abuse on JonBenet. 

Yeah, brother Burke is weird. John said he finished college and is working as a software developer. He said they had to trick the media when they took him to school after the crime. A friend and their car was a decoy. It was called Burke Watch at school. People actually had automatic callers around their neck for if something happened. They feared for Burke.

John said whoever did it was evil and deranged and does not think the way we do. Detective Lou Smith had several hundred names in a spread sheet and thought it was a kidnap gone wrong.

Dateline

Keith Morrison recorded a Calm episode called Overnight Oats. He was asked what he liked for breakfast and said oatmeal. Josh Mankiewicz joked that if you think it's just oats, water and milk, there is a twist! He did the Dateline cast introduction and left Keith for last and pretended that was it. It was hilarious. Dateline is the longest prime time show at NBC. Dennis said he wants to know the story of the people and it can't be obvious who did it. Someone joked it's really a true-romance-gone-wrong show. Josh got one of his favorite stories from a newspaper left on an airplane seat. Andrea said as long as your spouse runs the tub for you, plans a hike together or asks you to go to the basement, the show will be around. Josh said the world would be a better place if everyone watched so they would know if they commit murder, they will be caught. They were asked how they started their careers. Josh had to pick up a suit for Sam Donaldson and was told by Sam it better be three pieces. He brought it back to him and he thanked Josh by name, which surprised him. Andrea was a Baywatch intern and later had to take a quiz to get a reporter job in Mississippi. She barely passed because she wasn't into politics. Keith's father was a minister and he interned some times, doing sermons and funerals. I didn't catch the rest. The one case Josh wishes would be solved is JFK. Me, too.

Stolen Baby

The story that tugged at my heart last year was missing DeOrr Kunz. This year, I want this woman to find her baby who was stolen at 5 days old. She doesn't even have a picture of him. He was taken by a "friend" she met in the hospital who came to her house as she was showering. From 1964 to 2021, there are 336 cases of infant abduction, that's under six months. Twelve are still believed to be out there. Donna wants to help everyone she can because "no one can help me." The profile of a baby stealer is female, 12-60, compulsive, a lifetime liar and probably lost a baby or can't have one.

He was born on 11/6/78 in Atlanta. She was 16.

An afterthought, how does the boy get in school, get a license, a possible passport, get the sacraments pretending he is Catholic, without a birth certificate. The thug may have written off for the birth certificate? Is there a record of a request? Is the Department of Vital Records in on it?

Find Daniel

I feel for Daniel's father who spoke last night. This is a very mysterious missing person case. Dad has moved from South Carolina to Arizona to find his son who was born with one hand, founded his fraternity and was a young geologist. I believe law enforcement could do more. His searching has found other bodies. Parts at the end of this story are weird--dope, the girl, ditching of clothes? FINDING ANY PART OF A MISSING PERSON IS IMPORTANT. EVERYONE NEEDS A DECENT BURIAL.

Terror in Vegas

A Vegas police sergeant who worked the Mandalay Bay sniper case just gave a scoop.  The dude had two rooms with a layout of guns. He broke both hotel windows. Because he did that a draft closed the door between them and he got locked out of the other room. Also, David Copperfield almost got killed that night. A car was trying to get through a closed off area and they tried to stop it. Just when he was about to shoot, the driver rolled down her window and he saw Copperfield in the back seat. The young cops didn't know who he was. The sergeant explained he made the Statue of Liberty disappear and he almost disappeared that night. The speaker is of the mind to not mention the killer. He said we should glorify the victims and medical teams and heroes. 869 people were injured, 422 were shot, 60 perished. Thirteen hospitals took the wounded. The gunshot sounds hitting the microphones made it even sound worse. The ones who escaped ended up at other venues and the airport where private planes were. They consumed the Pappy Van Winkle in one and the owner was not mad. In these venues, police dealt with victims who had brain matter on them and others who were drunk and wanted to go after the killer. He told the story of a couple, the guy a cop, whose girlfriend put his skull back on him and asked some cowboys to carry him out while she had been shot in the chest. He had a 1 percent chance of living and he made it!

The shooter wanted to blow up the gas tanks at the airport, but the good news was there was no oxygen in them. They were drained for evidence. The crime scene was 17.5 acres and there was 20,000 hours of video. Shooter had Google searches of summer concerts.

A story in People after the event featured a shot woman who ran into a cab that had three strangers in it. She was taken to the hospital and they have a bond to this day. They were at her bedside when she woke up. She has searched for the driver with no success. She's had 15 surgeries and gave up on getting pregnant after receiving fertility treatment beforehand. She still has a bullet lodged near her pelvis.

No Body, No Crime

Not so, said Matt Murphy, a wonderful prosecutor. He said in the past 120 years, 141 bodies are unidentified in Riverside County, Calif. His boss won 67 cases in a row.  What a beast! He said in no body cases, the jury sees the reflection of the victim's soul in the eyes of those who loved them. I loved that quote.

He spoke of a case where the whispers of a husband and wife at jail said no bodies, no clue.

"A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you're talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging."--Casino quote

Tuam

There was a mother and baby Home in Tuam, Ireland, under the care of a nursing order of sisters where 796 children died between 1925 and 1961. These human remains were found in a septic tank in 1971 when a boy fell into a pit. Unwed mothers were sent here and stayed and worked a year after the birth, done without a doctor or pain medicine, to serve somewhat as a penance. There are death certificates, but no burial records, with a cemetery almost adjacent. They were two days to two months old. Apparently it was an illegal adoption agency and some of them in the U.S. are talking about it after finding records from their parents who kept archives of making a contribution there. Excavation is supposed to occur.

Spying

Luke Bencie, a former CIA spy, has been to 141 of 195 countries. He has been mobbed, drugged, blackmailed, bribed and shot at. He said to always assume you are under surveillance. France did this on planes. They learn the balcony test. Every room is a snapshot. Grand Central Station may present a person in a coat on a hot day or someone tying his shoe that looks out of place. He uses the CARVER method. Criticality (single points of failure), Accessibility, Recoverability, Vulnerability (susceptibility and exposure), Effect (repercussion and scope and magnitude), Recognizability. These are racked and stacked in priority. Think Nataktomi Plaza. Pre-empting is better than responding. People spy for money, ideology, coercion or ego (MICE). They are motivated by reciprocity, authority, social proof, commitment, liking and scarcity. Needs, wants, wounds (passed over for something), access and money may be the things they desire. Elicitatation is most important; he taught it. He mentioned SCREAMPIGS. Smile, compliment, referral, exhibit, ask opinions, poll, gifts (a drink), schedule (try to get a followup). Tricks of the trade are let the subject be the star, let them take the lead, quote a fact, lightly disagree, use flattery sparingly, gossip to lighten the mood, share confidences and alcohol. Remember, “just” is a lie word. I’m “just” here to… He once put Cheerios under his chair pad to see if anyone sat at his desk.

SO HOW WOULD YOU GET ON ANY BALCONY TO PASS THAT TEST?

Tylenol

I haven’t had a Tylenol since 1982. Maybe never did before that either. Kind of an aspirin girl and even that is rare. Blessed. Candice DeLong, the FBI agent who worked the case in Chicago where Tylenol was laced with potassium cyanide and seven people died, spoke. No suspect has been charged or convicted of the poisonings. New York City resident James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for sending a letter (with a fingerprint on it) to Tylenol's manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, that took responsibility for the deaths and demanded $1 million to stop them, but evidence tying Lewis to the actual poisoning never emerged. He wanted to communicate by ads in the Chicago Tribune and they included a bank number, which led to Steve McCahey, who was actually set up because the wife of Lewis once worked for McCahey’s travel agency which went bankrupt and she was shorted $50 until he resolved it. A Kansas FBI agent recalled Lewis was once arrested there and moved to Chicago. The case led them to New York City in search of Lewis and the FBI staked out every library because that is where he would be reading the Chicago Tribune. His description caught one agent’s attention. Now, this is some good police work. Mary, 12, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., was the first Tylenol death. She took Tylenol for flu symptoms and her death was thought to be an undiagnosed heart or brain disorder. Adam Janus of Arlington Heights died in a hospital later that day after ingesting Tylenol; his brother and sister-in-law also died after taking Tylenol from the same bottle, of course not knowing. Two paramedics who responded to these two calls happened to know each other and were discussing their day. Within a few days, three more were in the morgue and none of these seven had connections. Warnings were then issued through the media.

Lewis apparently drilled holes in a bread board with a cake knife in committing the crime. The tainted capsules were found to have been manufactured at two different locations – Pennsylvania and Texas – suggesting that they were tampered with after the product had been placed on store shelves for sale. A nationwide recall of Tylenol products was issued; an estimated 31 million bottles were in circulation, with a retail value of over $100 million. Fifty FBI agents and 50 state police worked 5,000 leads. The crime was considered the same as placing a bomb and walking away. A profile indicated poison would be used by women under age 75--broad. Numerous psychics called in saying the person who did it was by a fence or water. Lewis was sentenced to 10 years in prison. During the trial, attorneys claimed that he intended only to focus the attention of the authorities on his wife's former employer.  He thought he was righting a wrong.

In 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in connection to the Tylenol murders. Kaczynski denied having ever possessed potassium cyanide. The first four Unabomber crimes happened in Chicago and its suburbs from 1978 to 1980, and Kaczynski's parents had a suburban Chicago home in Lombard, Illinois, in 1982, where he stayed occasionally. DeLong also got to work on that case. They called him Unabeast, she said.

From my research: While at the time of the scare the company's market share collapsed from 35 percent to 8 percent, it rebounded in less than a year, a move credited to the company's prompt and aggressive reaction. In November, it reintroduced capsules in a new, triple-sealed package, coupled with heavy price promotions and within several years, Tylenol had regained the highest market share for the over-the-counter analgesic in the US. The 1982 incident inspired the pharmaceutical, food and consumer product industries to develop tamper-resistant packaging. Product tampering was made a federal crime.  The incident prompted the pharmaceutical industry to move away from capsules, which were easy to contaminate as a foreign substance could be placed inside without obvious signs of tampering. This led to the eventual replacement of the capsule with the solid “caplet.”

DeLong also got to work on a kidnapping case where the little boy turned around as he was being passed off to his parents and said, “Thanks for saving me, agent Candy.”

Rape Victim Advocacy

I listened to Kimberly Corban speak with Steve Wilkos. She was raped while in college. She asked the audience to pair up and tell your last sexual experience, then said STOP. That's what a rape victim has to do...on the stand. Her testimony was three hours...in front of her attacker. But she did it to get him convicted and speaks about it so others can learn to show compassion for victims. She said if someone shares such a story with you, believe her. She said initially her mother had to be next to her in the shower because she was scared to close her eyes while rinsing her hair.

Killer Relationships

Red Flags in a relationship: He is leading a funeral service for Kobe Bryant in the gym hall and he is not a funeral director. If you complain about him to law enforcement, he tells people you are a whistleblower. You are sleeping with a knife under your pillow. People lie, but patterns don't. Don't fall for someone saying he will treat you differently than the ex.  #SisDontSettle is the book of the speaker who gave this talk. Also, make sure your Alexa works to call 911.

Profiling

I listened to Crime Con’s Killer Psyche and got to create a profile of a killer. Come to find out, it was for a horrific crime in Chicago in 1966, killing eight nurses, ages 18-22, in one house over five hours. A neighbor woke up in the middle of the night to a woman on a ledge, yelling, “They’re all dead.” One was naked on the couch with a ligature. Four more had their hands bound in a bedroom. He put a gun (stolen) on them and made them tie their own sheets. Three more, the same in another bedroom. Some were Filipino. Some were stabbed. Only one was raped. One’s face was covered. This can mean caring. Seasoned police walked out vomiting as did a crime reporter. The one on the ledge hid under a bed for two hours; he must have lost count and forgotten her. She got his description: white male, 6-feet tall, blonde hair, potmarked face, talked Southern and had a tat that said Born To Raise Hell. He liked to tell people at a bar he was in Vietnam, but he wasn’t. We were tasked with profiling the gender, age, employment, education, dress, whether loner, leader or follower, where he lived—own or rent or drift, sexual history/marriage, and motive. I believed he was a slob, not a neat freak. Yet he was organized because he brought his own weapon. Someone guessed that he was a butcher. Turns out he dropped out of school at 15, married at 16 for a year, and had a child. His father died when he was young and his mother remarried to get help raising five kids. The stepdad was abusive. It led to dude hating his mother, which led to hating women. He started drinking and doing drugs. They discussed the Madonna-Whore complex, the tendency of some men to categorize women as either pious and valuable or as overly sexual, easy to bed and “worthless whores.” He got arrested 41 times in Dallas for burglary and forgery and came back to Chicago when he thought he might be caught again. He sofa hopped between sisters. Eventually at a fleabag hotel, he cut his arm in a suicide attempt. A wise surgical resident at Cook County Hospital had been reading the newspaper and saw about the tat and description and gave him a sedative. So, he was a drifter. He got eight consecutive life sentences of 100 years. Other profile questions are: did he cooperate or deny? Have a dog? Which kind shows something, whether Chihuahua or Doberman or Rottweiler. Does he have a vehicle? I said no. Is he shy or good or braggadocios? Is he slow or smart?

Active Shooters

An FBI agent who ran the first active shooter program gave fact and fiction on shooters. Male is fact. Age 18-25 is fiction. Average age is 35. Forty-four percent are working, so not necessarily jobless. Loner is fiction. Most do interact. At Aurora, 18 were placed in a police vehicle and survived. Protocol for not waiting for an ambulance changed after that movie theater shooting. While many shootings may seem to take place in Colorado (Columbine, Boulder), they occur in every state. She said 70 percent of the shootings end in five minutes.  35 percent in two minutes. If the business is closed to the public, the shooter is already inside. They will take place where there is pedestrian traffic.  The cadence is run, hide, fight. Defend yourself if you can. Most don’t really snap, they planned and prepared it. They likely suffered personal losses. Thirty to 40 percent intend to commit suicide. They give away things. Look for this. They are not people already getting mental health care.

In the weekend church shooting, churchgoers detained the gunman by using an extension cord to hogtie him and confiscate the weapons. True heroes.

Dr. Cyril Wecht

Dr. Cyril Wecht, now 91, said to make sure your library has purchased the 27 volumes of the Warren Commission. He spent $75 on his. It should be alongside Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. He called the Warren Commission Report “cockamamie bullshit.” He wants to know the evidentiary burden if you believe it.

I did not know Adlai Stevenson was spat upon in Dallas two weeks before Kennedy was shot nor that some Dallas school kids applauded when they learned he was assassinated.

One particular bullet was central to the case against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin of President Kennedy. This bullet, which was referred to in the Warren Report as Commission Exhibit 399, is supposed to have entered Kennedy’s upper back, passed through his upper back and lower neck, come out of his throat just below the Adam’s apple, entered Gov. John Connally’s back close to his right armpit, passed through his body, smashing several inches of one rib, come out of the right side of his chest, passed through his right wrist, breaking the radius bone, embedded itself in his left thigh, and finally, while Connally was on a stretcher in Parkland Hospital, the bullet worked its way out of his thigh and fell onto the stretcher, where it was discovered by a hospital employee. Bullets move in a straight line, not do the hokey pokey (my words). When a bullet strikes bone, it gets deformed. His words. Bullets of the same type as CE 399 were fired into the wrist bones of ten human cadavers. All ten bullets were severely deformed, unlike CE 399. One bullet was fired into a goat’s rib and was flattened substantially more than CE 399.  Studies must include the angle, range, sequence, trajectory and weight of the bullet.

(The W.C. bullet pictured on my Facebook should not be pristine!)

I do not know as much about the RFK assassination. Wecht said RFK was shot from one to 1.5 inches away from his head. Sirhan’s gun spent eight bullets, yet there were 13 shots. Was there a second shooter? Mrs. Sirhan wanted Wecht as his attorney; he said was tempted because he is a lawyer also, but he is not a trial lawyer.

On Mary Jo Kopechne— body in a pond in a car--no autopsy was done. Her mother later regretted there was no exhumation. She didn’t want it to found out that she might not be a virgin or was pregnant.

Wecht was involved in the Elvis Presley, Waco and O.J. Simpson cases. He has done 21,000 autopsies and supervised 42,000.

Gabby Petito

Haven’t heard the name Gabby Petito since loser’s body was found. There was a power of control wheel mentioned in the domestic abuse session of Crime Con. Her parents amended their lawsuit against the Laundries that will be precedent setting. There is no tattletale law, but weren’t they aiding and abetting or do they have the right to remain silent? 

Gabby first told the Utah police she had an injury from her backpack. They have a lot of discretion. One of them did not want to arrest her because he didn't want her to have a criminal charge on her record. One of the panelists said trauma changes your brain. Domestic violence victims practice fight, flight or fawn to placate their survival. Sometimes they stay because they want to help that person. Sometimes they want to gain equality with them.

J.J. Vallow Grandparents

The Woodcocks, grandparents of J.J. Vallow, equals crushing story. His birth name was Canaan. They are from Lake Charles. Chad is up for the death penalty. They hope Lori is, too.  They said she has always played the system. They have 16 grandkids and some greats. And for Lori texting Kay that her brother died is insane. Texted. Chad and Lori are nothing but freaks.