At a recent JFK conference I attended, disturbing news regarding Dealey Plaza was discovered.. The city is planning to “renovate” it – meaning removing the picket fence, the grassy knoll and who knows what else, and replacing these markers of the assassination with something more acceptable to the city. We were told that the Dallas newspaper and The Sixth Floor Museum are pushing this idea. We see this as a move to begin removing any and all references to the assassination. Students (such as the ones who attended) or people new to the details of the assassination would not be able to see the terrain exactly as it was in 1963 and be able to make their own judgments about what happened there.
Friday, December 9, 2022
Killing Kennedy, new book by Jack Roth
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Latest JFK Conference
Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain a child. Cicero. This was a quote by speaker David Denton at the JFK Assassination Conference this weekend. He said agents were removed from the security detail before the motorcade. “Maybe they had to go to lunch?”
A presentation was made by Paul Bleau who reviewed 16
textbooks and did email exchanges with authors. He said they skew Lee Harvey
Oswald as the lone assassin. The only investigation referred to in any of them
was the Warren Commission. One teacher did a lesson with a
mock scene with 11 teams acting out various scenarios.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Ed Hoffman stood on the shoulder of the
Stemmons Expressway in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated. The deaf witness
claimed he saw a man with a rifle moments after the shots were fired. He later
described how a man wearing a dark suit and tie, with an overcoat, ran west
along the wooden fence with a rifle and tossed it to a second man who was
dressed like a railroad worker. The second man then disassembled the rifle and
put it in a soft brown bag. Hoffman immediately tried to alert the Secret
Service agents about what he had seen. However, unable to understand what he
was trying to say, he was threatened with a machine gun (believed to have been
George Hickey). He then attempted to tell his story to a Dallas policeman
(believed to be Earle Brown). Unable to understand him, Brown waved him away.
Hoffman then visited the local Federal Bureau of Investigation office. No officers
were there and so he left written details with the receptionist. (The FBI never
responded to this note.) Hoffman told his father, Frederick Hoffman, about what
he saw. His father, concerned that his son could be in danger, urged him not to
tell anyone about what he had seen. Hoffman did tell his story to his uncle,
Robert Hoffman, a Dallas police officer. However, the police officer decided
not to take the story to the Dallas Police Department. In June 1967, Hoffman
took his story to the FBI. When agents
checked out his story they discovered his father did not want it
investigated. Hoffman did keep quiet
until 1975 when he wrote to Edward Kennedy about his story. Kennedy replied:
"My family has been aware of various theories concerning the death of President
Kennedy, just as it has been aware of many speculative accounts which have
arisen from the death of Robert Kennedy. I am sure that it is understood that
the continual speculation is painful for members of my family. We have always
accepted the findings of the Warren Commission report and have no reason to
question the quality and the effort of those who investigated the fatal
shooting of Robert Kennedy." On March 25, 1977, Hoffman contacted the FBI
again. This time Hoffman took with him Richard H. Freeman, one of the
supervisors at Texas Instruments where he worked. Freeman understood sign
language and was able to help explain in more detail what Hoffman saw. Again
the FBI showed little interest in pursuing the story.
S. M. (Skinny) Sam Holland on Nov. 22, watched the motorcade
from the overpass in Dealey Plaza. He said that when Kennedy was shot he saw a
puff of gunsmoke under the branches of a tree on the grassy knoll. Holland
later gave evidence to the Warren Commission, who reported: "According to
S. M. Holland, there were four shots which sounded as though they came from the
trees on the north side of Elm Street where he saw a puff of smoke.
Motorcycle cop Bobby Hargis was riding to Kennedy's left and
behind him, was struck by brain matter/skull when the President's head
exploded. That must mean that the shot came from in front of Kennedy and to his
right. This claim goes back to Josiah Thompson's book “Six Seconds in
Dallas.” This debris [from the
President's head] hit Hargis with such force that he told reporters the next
day, "I thought at first I might have been hit." It seemed like the
motion of the President's head or his body and the splatter had hit me, it
seemed like both the locations needed investigating, and that's why I investigated
them. But you couldn't tell, there was -- it looked like a million windows on
the Book Depository. You couldn't tell exactly if there was anyone in there
with a gun.
Given Hargis' position to Kennedy's left and behind him, he
should have been able to see the back of Kennedy's head blow out, if that
indeed had happened. Yet he explicitly says that he saw a "splash come out
on the other side." He, in other words, is describing a wound to the right
side of Kennedy's head. So it's deeply ironic that conspiracy authors have used
him as a "back of the head" witness. Hargis remained consistent in
his story. He was on the force only a week when he was given the assignment to
flank JFK's limo -- left side, ten feet behind. A few minutes later, while at
the TSBD, a co-worker leaned forward and flicked something off Hargis' upper
lip.
On Nov. 22, Abraham Zapruder filmed the motorcade. Zapuder's
film was sold to Life Magazine. In charge of the purchase was C. D. Jackson, a
close friend of Henry Luce, the owner of the magazine. According to Carl
Bernstein, Jackson was "Henry Luce's personal emissary to the CIA."
On the 29th Life Magazine, published a series of 31 photographs documenting the
entire shooting sequence from the Zapruder film. It was only later discovered
that the critical frames that depicted the rearward motion of Kennedy's head
had been printed to indicate a forward motion. James Wagenvoord, the editorial
business manager and assistant to Life Magazines executive editor, realized
that a mistake had been made: "I asked about it when the stills were first
printed, (they didn't read right) and then duped for distribution to the
European and British papers/magazines. The only response I go was an icy stare
from Dick Pollard, Life's director of photography. So being an ambitious
employee, I had them distributed." In its Dec. 6 edition, Paul Mandel
wrote an article about the assassination in Life Magazine. "The doctor
said one bullet passed from back to front on the right side of the President’s
head. But the other, the doctor reported, entered the President’s throat from
the front and then lodged in his body. Since by this time the limousine was 50
yards past Oswald and the President’s back was turned almost directly to the
sniper, it has been hard to understand how the bullet could enter the front of
his throat. Hence the recurring guess that there was a second sniper somewhere
else.”
The Texas State Archives once displayed the bullet-riddled
clothes worn by Gov. John Connally on the day he was wounded. The white cotton shirt,
with faded bloodstains clearly visible, and a black business suit were the
centerpiece of a display. “There are bullet holes both in the back and the
front of the suit jacket. There is one bullet hole in the wearer’s right cuff,
and there is another in the left leg, on the front. Connally donated the shirt,
suit and the striped tie he was wearing to the state archives while he was
still hospitalized.
As was said, you don’t put all your marbles in one guy. As
in if it was Oswald. But it wasn’t!
Tidbit: Marina Oswald’s mail was watched for seven years.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Being an Aunt
There was a story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday
called Be the Favorite Aunt or Uncle You Were Destined To Be. Appropriate since
I babysat last night. It tells about a girl who knew where to turn for a
breakup, for feeling safe, for love and wanting what’s best for her. Aunts and uncles
can be like a second set of adults who care deeply. Caring aunts and uncles
play vital roles in a family. They are mentors who offer perspectives and
experiences. They listen without judgement. Almost every niece or nephew claims
a “fun one.” This one gets down on the
floor, reads, attends their birthday parties and often travels with them. I
haven’t with the greats yet, but for the ones who live here I sprung for New
York City and Boston and Maine. I would
never underestimate their parents’ permission. Here is one thing from the story
that has yet to take place. My photo on their fridge! LOL. The person is the
story said truth is expected and communication is NOT by text. If the parents
need to know something, find a way to make the niece of nephew tell them.
Needing help is not a sign of weakness. They can ask about boyfriends, school
and careers. They don’t have to listen to aunts and uncles, of course. The girl
in the story always thought she would grow up to be a cool person because her
aunt and uncle loved her. I hope the same.
Saluting M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H premiered on Sept. 17, 1972. I can remember many
boring Sundays when I couldn’t wait to watch the show because it made me laugh.
I still sometimes say, “I need a good M*A*S*H episode. What is your favorite
episode? Who is your favorite character? (I didn’t like B.J. after Trapper,
Winchester or Potter). My favorite that I will NEVER forget is when a patient
dies on Christmas Day and Hawkeye turns the clock ahead so his family doesn’t
have to remember that. Lt. Col. Blake’s final scene was only known by Alan
Alda. The episode was described as like marching in a parade and then getting
hit by a brick. I was so mad I didn’t get to watch the last episode in 1983
because I was covering M*A*S*H parties all over town for The Times. It was much
later that I watched it. Well, Corp. Klinger was ahead of his time, wasn’t he?
Wearing the female clothes. He actually served in the Korean War. The show had
109 Emmy nominations and 14 wins. Hawkeye wrapped up 25 nominations. He has
been married since 1957. The actual war lasted three years, one month and two
days, but the show aired 11 seasons. The finale remains the most-watched TV
series episode in history. Parade magazine did a story and said Army boots
messed with the audio. The cast donned sneakers and were shot from the waist
up. Radar’s lost teddy bear showed up at an auction where a medical student
paid $11,800 for it. He sold it back to Radar, now 79, who sold it at an
auction for $14,307.50 in 2014. Radar is an inventor and owns patents for a
special fishing pole and a toilet seat lifting handle. Loretta Swit has written
books on needlepoint and watercolor painting
and is a longtime animal activist. The guest list on M*A*S*H included
Patrick Swayze, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Long, Laurence Fishburne, Blythe
Danner, Teri Garr and Ron Howard. The cast ate pizza and had beer every Friday
night. They would tell stories, play games and rib each other. When they were called to the set, the
connection was there. They stay in touch and try to get together for dinner
once a year. For a show that ranked at the bottom, Hawkeye would joke that they
were in the top 72. On the way to a restaurant to celebrate the end, much of
the cast realized the streets were empty. It hit them that people were at home
watching the finale. Also, they never
tried to forget that real people suffered in Korea. M*A*S*H, I salute you.
“Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.”
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
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?
An honor walk is a ritual where hospital staffs hold flameless candles in the corridor, shoulder to shoulder. It's compassion and dignity for a donor wheeled to the operating room, for one. It's collective attention. This moment matters.
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 and from 2026
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 requested these certain rooms. 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 bodies were moved in 24 hours. 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! There were lots of law and overtime in preparation for any medical incidents.
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. He hoped those running from it would get closer to him for shooting. The crime scene was 17.5 acres and there was 20,000 hours of video and 20,000 in attendance.
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.
The shooter did not snap. He did commit suicide. He planned this. He wore gloves even while gambling. His girlfriend was apparently not involved. His father had been a bank robber. People tried to get souvenirs from dude's house. When his mother was told what he did, she said it was brave he killed himself. Law that was a weird response.
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 redesigned package, coupled with a recall, 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.
