South African businessman Stephen Birch says he has proof of some sort of cavity beneath a second pebble driveway (put in after Madeleine McCann's disappearance) and he believes that Maddie may be buried in that particular spot, a possible grave he located with a geo-radar machine he ran over Robert Murat's property (where his mother is living) a number of times quite illegally. He admits he had no permission to be on the grounds and, under the cover of night, slipped onto the property and ran his tests. He recognizes he may be sued for this and has his lawyers in place to deal with the possibility.
I am not going to speak of legalities and ethics in this particular post. Personally, I do not approve of trespassing on private property, possibly terrifying anyone at home (although some will claim I am the pot calling the kettle black because I touched the shutters on Apartment 5A when it was vacant which were accessible from the public walkway in the resort at which I was staying). Anyway, the issue at hand I am wishing to discuss is not whether Mr. Birch should be dealt with legally, but whether there is any merit to his claim and if anyone should dig at the spot on the driveway and who that should be.
First, to the issue of Mr. Birch's theory that Madeleine was dead on May 3rd and buried on Murat's property the same night. I will not get into his entire theory as to who was involved and why. Suffice it to say, his theory is possible, if not all that probable, at least from this profiler's experience. IF his theory were to be true, it would be a major anomaly. If Maddie is buried on Murat's property, I would have to believe that Robert Murat was himself involved in the crime, that he was a child sex predator who saw a lucky opportunity, grabbed the child, and ran back to his house with her. Then, finished with his enjoyment of the child, he would have done what most child sex predators do; kill the child straight away. Then, he would have buried her on his own property believing that he would not become a suspect and, thereby, her body would not be found with his DNA on it somewhere on the side of the road.
Do I believe that this is what happened? Do I believe Murat is involved? No, but only because the evidence, in my opinion, doesn't point in his direction (see all my blogs on the case and my Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann). I don't believe Maddie was abducted, I do believe the McCanns are involved, and my Number One choice of where Maddie would be found buried is Monte do Jose Mestre, a desolate area west of Praia da Luz where Gerry McCann's cell phone pinged.
If Murat were not involved in the disappearance of Maddie McCann and the Gerry and Kate McCanns did have something to do with their daughter's demise, I would find it highly improbable that Maddie would be buried by one of her parents (with or without the help of any of their friends) nearby on someone's private property. I find it would be extraordinary, that under great duress right after finding her dead that evening, Gerry would have the audacity and balls to go onto someone's property, dig a hole, and bury Maddie there in an attempt to to frame someone in the community. I could believe someone burying their child on some stranger's farm in the country in some remote and area easily accessible to the road, but just down the street on a property behind an inhabited house in the middle of town, this is too unbelievable to me. If the McCanns were involved and Gerry was seen trotting toward the beach with Maddie by the Smith family, that behavior is more in line with known behaviors of parents involved in the death of their child; he would have been in a panic and quickly trying to get her body away from the vacation residence and to a remote place where any predator could have dumped her. What might have happened after that would all depend on luck and circumstances and having more time to think things through. But to place her just down the street on someone's property, I doubt it. Could be true, but it would be extremely odd.
Now, on to the issue of should the property be dug up at that spot just to make sure? I don't object to it. Who the suspect would be if it turned out Maddie was buried on the property is secondary to locating the chid and seeing justice done for her. Also, if the theory she is buried there does not pan out, perhaps Mr. Birch and others will take that machine and a search party over to Monte do Jose Mestre and see if they can find Maddie over there.
But who decides if the driveway at Murat's should be excavated? If the police do not have probably cause and they don't believe Birch's video of his radar scanning means much, they are not going to be knocking on Murat's mom's door. Is there really any evidence pointing to the Murat property or Murat? Is that video really indicative of a grave? If it is, could it be the grave of a dog? Could that cavity be the result of some other disturbance to that ground could cause a scan that looks to Birch like a grave?
Next, should Robert Murat just say, "What the hell! Let me just shut this guy up!" and allow the driveway to be dug up? I would say if he wasn't worried about a body being there, he could do that. But, on the other hand, even if he had nothing to do with Maddie's disappearance, he might now be paranoid someone has put her body there and he will indeed be framed, or that someone has planted some kind of evidence to make it look like a body might have been there. If I were in his shoes, I don't know what I would do.
Should the McCanns push the police or Murat to take action? Well, if I were them and I were innocent, I would damn sure want that ground dug up because it would drive me crazy not to know if Maddie was really there or not.
What do I think will likely happen? Nothing. I think the police don't have probable cause, Murat won't want to take the chance, and the McCanns, in my opinion, already know whether she is under that driveway or not. So, nothing will happen unless the Murat family no longer owns the property and the new owners have no problem with the matter being settled with a little digging on the drive. I don't think we are going to see that coming down the pike any time soon.
What I wouldn't be surprised to see is Stephen Birch ending up on the end of a Carter-Ruck lawsuit via the McCanns for claiming Maddie is dead. We all know how the McCanns deal with differing opinions, don't we?
I know, I know. I should be more professional than to use such bad language, but having Kate McCann be the poster woman for people who have lost children, just blows my mind. Yes, Kate surely is pretty good at making children go missing, but it is this fact alone that should disqualify her for any ambassador position connected to missing anybodies. In fact, it should make her poison to any organization seeking money and support for finding missing persons. Not only has Kate managed to lose her child due to her own poor skills at mothering, but she has squandered millions of donor dollars on crooked and incompetent private investigators who haven't unearthed a damned clue, much less the body of her own very likely very dead daughter.
What in god's name was this Missing People organization thinking? Even if they find Kate McCann a sympathetic figure, even if they believe her daughter was really abducted, even if they believe she has truly spent five years searching for her missing child, the people who run this organization have to know that a good many people think Kate McCann is guilty of child neglect, guilty of manslaughter, guilty of covering up a crime, guilty of obstructing a police investigation, and guilty of defrauding the public of money. Who chooses such a person to represent their organization? Wasn't there one person in the leadership who said, "You know, bringing Kate McCann on board might not be such a bright idea."
Of course, Kate McCann, had she any sense of decency and concern for the purpose of such an organization should have said, "I do appreciate your kind offer and your generous support of my innocence and forgiveness of my parenting "mistake" but I wouldn't want to do harm to your organization, do more damage than good, considering how many people think I am guilty of a number of crimes. They will undoubtedly attack your organization if my name were to be linked with it."
Oh, I get why Kate didn't turn down the offer; it fits with her personality. I am not a bit surprised. If she had turned it down, I might have actually stopped to rethink my analysis of her. Guess I don't have to do that. I also can't help but wonder if, perhaps, she wasn't offered the position...that maybe she offered herself as a representative, that she paid her way in. Maybe a large donation is what buys you an ambassadorship. I, for one, would like to see the financial records.
So, go figure. Another bizarre occurrence in the McCann saga which involves people who shouldn't be involved with them. I never was much for conspiracy theories, but with all the high level people sticking up for the McCanns and ignoring their very concerning behaviors and misdeeds, I just have to wonder why the McCanns seem to walk on British waters, don't you?
BOLO for serial tea kettle killer!!! A second victim of the tea kettle serial killer has just been discovered in Tucson, Arizona just some six months after the first victim was murdered in Lisbon, Portugal. The MO, however, remains fairly consistent. An unsuspecting tea kettle, one unrelated to the perpetrator and assaulted in the tea kettle's own home, was taken from its resting place on the counter and burned to death on the nearby stove.
Crime Scene Photo One
Victim Number One, a fine red electric tea kettle was taken from its base, filled with water, and settled, rubber touching electrical surface, on the front left burner. The perpetrator then turned the stove on high and left the room. Smoke soon billowed out from under the kettle and the perpetrator reentered as the tea kettle was breathing its last. The kettle's closest relative asleep in the next room was unaware of the ongoing homicide and the perpetrator quickly worked to eliminate the evidence. Said perpetrator later denied the murder, laying the blame on the victim, claiming the red kettle had the shape of a nonelectric sort and the cord was not plugged into the kettle at the time. The perp claimed she thought the tea kettle was a typical pot that would be used on the stove and was unaware of its rubber bottom.
Crime Scene Photo Two
Six months later, the tea kettle serial killer struck again in Tucson, Arizona. This time a copper kettle was home alone when the perp struck. This nonelectric kettle was filled with water, place on the front left burner as had been the first victim, and the heat set on high. The perpetrator then left the room and waited for the kettle to boil dry and burn itself to death. The perpetrator later claimed that the tea kettle was of the whistling variety and while waiting to hear the whistle, the perp busied herself with web surfing. The perpetrator claims the whistle was defective and the pot never whistled and, therefore, without the proper signal, she forgot the tea kettle was on the stove boiling which led to its eventual death.
Pat Brown, the suspected perpetrator of these two tea kettle homicides as she was in both locations at the time of the murders, is still free in society. We would like to warn the public to keep an eye on their tea kettles and be sure not to allow this woman into one's kitchen if there are any tea kettles present.
Harkening back to the writing styles
of the earlier American authors – John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, and Carson
McCullers, "Only the Truth" is a story of soul searching, a
psychological mystery which examines the question, “Whom should one love and
when should one quit doing so?” Billy Ray, a lonely and rather slow, uneducated
African-American man living in the mountains of Arkansas, runs across a mysterious young woman
at the railroad tracks. She asks to go home with him and Billy Ray takes her
with him as she requests. He comes to love this woman, Charlene,
unconditionally. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and life is finally
good for Billy Ray. Then Charlene shoots the neighbor and burns down the
neighbor’s house. His happy life destroyed, a confused and devastated Billy Ray
is at a loss. Is the woman he loves “just a troubled girl” or a psychopathic
killer? Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth,
whether it leads him to be able to save Charlene from a death sentence or it
frees him from her spell.
W: So, Holmes, what do you think Scotland Yard is doing in the Madeleine McCann case?
H: Well, Watson, there are only two options: they are searching for truth and justice or they are using four million taxpayer dollars to cover up a crime.
W: What would show they are searching for truth and justice, Holmes?
H: They would be seeking justice for those who perpetrated crimes against a little three-year-old girl.
W: So, let me see if I have this right; they would be following evidence and statistics which would mean they would look at the parents first since there is evidence that they were the last ones to see her, they admitted to her neglect, and because cadaver and blood dogs hit in their apartment and car, and they would also investigate the parents because statistics show caretakers are the ones most likely involved when a child of Madeleine's age disappears or dies in their care. Then, if the parents can be cleared, they should look for a local child sex predator who murdered her since statistics overwhelmingly support a child this age would be kidnapped, raped, and murdered within an hour by a man living in the vicinity.
H: Correct, Watson. But, Scotland Yard hasn't spent any time analyzing the possibility of the parents' involvement in their daughter's disappearance nor have they spent any time focusing on the vicinity of the McCann's apartment or a local child sex predator.
W: I am confused, Holmes. Are you saying that they have spent four million dollars sifting through tips that would take them out of Portugal in search of a live Maddie living with a family somewhere?
H: This is what appears to be the fact, Watson.
W: Well, then, Holmes, I would have to deduce that Scotland Yard is rife with dunces or corruption.
H: Bravo, Watson! I think you have hit the nail on the head! All the evidence points to Madeleine McCann being dead but her parents and Scotland Yard have collectively purportedly spent some eight million dollars not seeking justice for little Maddie and not seeking to punish the perpetrator or perpetrators, but instead appear to be focusing on a statistical anomaly in spite of evidence to the contrary; they want the public to believe she is alive and being cared for by strangers for the last five years. Yet none of the investigators, not the McCann hired PIs nor Scotland Yard, has presented ONE shred of evidence to validate this cock-and-bull theory.
W: Then, why, Holmes, are so many attacking the Portuguese police, retired Detective Goncalo Amaral, Criminal Profiler Pat Brown, and the others who have worked to analyze the case and provide theories and evidence of Madeleine having died in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007? These folks haven't been milking the public and citizens of millions of dollars and then refusing to show them any of what they have discovered during their investigations.
H: Ah, Watson, I guess because there are a lot of people out there who just can't accept that Madeleine McCann is dead, has been dead, and will be dead, and there is not going to be a happy ending to the story.
W: Whoa, Holmes, aren't you afraid to say unequivocally that Madeleine McCann is dead? Aren't you worried the McCanns and Carter Ruck will be suing your deductive ass?
H: Well, let them have at it, Watson! Since I am a fictional character, they can sue me for my fictional money, and I will happily send them a fictional check for the fictional Madeleine Search Fund with my fictional signature on it. Good luck cashing that at the bank.
Well, okay, it is really Day Seven, so you must have thought I was either dead or in hiding. Well I am still kicking, so I must have been in hiding, stuffing something into my mouth! Close, but, no, actually, I was just busy. But here is the scoop.
On Day Five, I was either flying (in a plane) or walking through airports until midnight. And, here is where my fast started to get to me. It wasn't the hunger because, truly, by Day Five it was not there, and it wasn't thinking about food, although that still was there. Rather, it was the weakness I felt when moving about. It is really strange because last time I fasted (okay, I was nineteen years old - see photo at left), I didn't feel that way and buzzed about for all ten days. So I did a lot of reading and I found varying reports of how weak one might feel and some reported weakness in the beginning but it lessened as the days progressed and others apparently spent their entire fast in a hammock; age didn't seem to matter.
And that was my problem. The weakness seriously bugged me and I really noticed it as I crawled to my connecting flight, worried I wouldn't make it to that gate in another state by the time boarding ended. I didn't have any peanuts or cookies or pretzels on the flight and I made it through the day, but I remember looking fondly at a wheelchair as I deplaned that I really wanted to sit in. Back at home, I woke on Day Six to feeling still like 1/4 of a human and although I knew this did not mean I was going to kick the bucket (I know some of you will say...."Oh, your body was crying for food!"), I didn't want to continue to be that weak because I had stuff to do. I wasn't on a prolonged vacation and I couldn't just lay about for the rest of the month, so I decided to break the fast. I did diluted juices, then juice, then fruit. Today I have had a salad.
I am a bit bummed that I didn't get to finish the fast as I wanted. If it hadn't been for the weakness, I think I would have carried on. I don't regret the try, though, as I learned a lot of interesting things about food and my brain's attitude toward it. I think the most fascinating thing I learned is that I too often eat without thinking about why and what; this is what I hope to change. I also find pretty fascinating that life is incredibly boring without food, mostly because our culture is built around food in every single social occasion, which I think is rather a terrible thing. At least when I was growing up, I remember food played a much smaller part and, even when a social occasion did include food, it was often in small proportions. This is something America needs to fix if we want to be truly a healthier population.
Ah, well, on to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland with my daughter to see Sarah Mclachlan. As I lay out on the blanket listening to her sing (Sarah, not my daughter), I just hope I don't eat an entire bag of Doritos.
Well, Day Four here and I have not yet bailed, although I thought about doing so about fifty times today. Actually today is a bit better than yesterday, but not enough that I am going, "Woo hoo!" I am so hoping the spiritual effects and clarity of mind and those wonderful things that make continued fasting worth doing show up soon...right now it is just an exercise in mind control. I am still hating life.
I went and visited the Desert Museum here in Tucson and saw some really cute animals. The heat was ungodly and I spent the walk pouring water over my head. Uphill walking was torture; the fast definitely influence my ability to take the heat and exercise. But, I enjoyed my visit.
For those wanting to understand more about the difference between fasting and starving and worry about the dangers for me, please read this: Fasting/Starving
The real key to when fasting becomes starving is when one's hunger returns with a vengeance and when your body runs out of fat and then has to cannibalize muscle. Right now, believe me, I still have enough fat to live on! (even if some of you are kind enough to say I am so thin...being twenty pounds overweight is not thin). When hunger massively attacks (if I get to the point where hunger has vanished) or I hit 130 pounds, I will stop the fast (that is if I don't wimp out way before then, like tomorrow).
The Stats
Weight: 146
Exercise: Walked for about forty minutes; felt pretty weak with the incredible heat and anythng uphill; sat down about five times.
Hunger: Really not bad but craving food like crazy.
Side Effects: Mild headache late in the day.
Mental Clarity: Still crap because I am thinking about how not to throw in the towel which is all I am thinking about.
Day Three seriously sucks. It is always considered the worst day in a fast. I woke up and had my breakfast water and then went for my walk. I got ten minutes down the way, took a picture of that cute little rabbit and turned around and went back. Weakness is what one feels on the third day and, along with that, an incredible desire to chuck the whole idea. Most people quit on this day, never getting to Day Four which is so much better (at least that is what I read and think I remember from before). On Day Four, hunger diminishes and energy increases as the body goes into ketosis and burns stored fat for energy. But, meanwhile, Day Three is damned hard to get through. I am hating it.
But, I am making it. I went out and got a nice massage for an hour which was quite interesting because I noticed that during that massage, I actually didn't think about food. Likewise, while swimming in the pool; for some reason, these nice sensations seem to replace the need to eat temporarily.
Then I went out for "lunch" with my wonderful literary agent,Claire Gerus, and while she had salad, I had sparkling water. I managed to enjoy her company without having to eat which is something I am trying to learn, that I don't need to consume a ton of food every time I am out socializing.
Another thing I learned today was that I don't have to drink liquid all night. I have been quitting having liquid at sundown and start drinking liquid again only after sunrise (I tend to drink Diet Pepsi all night). Quitting night drinking sure helps me sleep through the night!
So, the day from hell is near over and I am just crossing my fingers that Day Four will be much, much better.
The Stats
Weight: 148 -
Exercise: Walked for twenty minutes; felt like crap within ten minutes and turned around and that was enough exercise for the day.
Hunger: Yes, and had to fight really hard to not give in.
Side Effects: Mild headache late in the day.
Mental Clarity: Not so good because all I wanted to do was crawl into the refrigerator and make friends with anything in there.
Day Two is a difficult time on a fast. I actually wasn't as hungry as
yesterday, but my mind would constantly jar me towards thinking about
food. Really interesting....I would be walking to the bathroom and
suddenly I would turn sharply towards the kitchen without even a picture
of food in my mind. As soon as I picked up my towel at the pool to go
back to the condo, I thought, "Lunch." When I was going out for my walk,
I grabbed a credit card "just in case" I needed to get something to eat
or drink. So even without a hunger pang, there is a constant memory of
food that keeps rearing its ugly head like every five minutes.
You will be happy to know that I only watched one show of Cupcake Wars on the Food Channel and then turned to America's Next Top Model.....those girls never eat.
The Stats:
Weight: 149 - yes, you read that right! Six pounds less than
yesterday morning...I think it has to do with the fact I gorged myself
the day before I started this fast for my last meal....so I probably
really wasn't 155 pounds yesterday....maybe 151 if I hadn't eaten ten
pounds of food before bed.
Exercise: Walked around the golf course for forty-five minutes and took
lots of animal pictures - chipmunks, lizards, and bunnies.
Hunger: Yes, but not awful.
Side Effects: Mild headache late in the day.
Mental Clarity: Fine, but the images and constant pull towards finding food is distracting.
So all of you are wondering how the first day of a fast feels (if you have never done one yourself). Well, I didn't have much of an issue until about lunch time because I am not a big breakfast eater. Then, I thought I really might like to have something to eat, but, of course, I ignored the thought. I continued working, all the while imbibing in the only thing I am allowed to swallow on this fast - boiled spring water between sunrise and sunset.
In order to do something nice for myself that involved some other senses rather than smell and taste, I went for a swim and an hour of sunbathing. The sun was wonderful and then the feel of the water as I swooshed through the pool....aah....and then I wanted to eat something.
I came back to my work station and watched the Food Channel. Naughty, naughty....turned it off....and focused on my writing. God, my head hurt. My bad...I forgot to give up the caffeine...the coffee and the Diet Pepsi...a few days before the fast. So, now I have a double headache from caffeine withdrawal and hunger.
Which makes me a bit nauseous! The first day of not eating is not so much fun! Not too worry - if I remember correctly - Day Two and Day Three are worse.
The Stats:
Weight: 155
Exercise: Walked and ran a little bit through a nice arroyo for forty-five minutes
Hunger: You bet; thought about food on and off
Side Effects: Bad headache, mild nausea
Mental Clarity: Just fine but headache is distracting
I know, I know, it sounds crazy and I am not sure I will not change my mind, say, about one hour after I consume that last disgusting meal (pictured left). I have done a ten day fast once in my life....that would be nearly forty years ago, and I have fasted a day here and two days there, but never anything prolonged.
A thirty day water fast is called Maaskhaman by the Jains, a fast done for purely spiritual reasons. My reasons are a bit more all over the map: spiritual, health, weight, curiosity, but, most of all, I have a desire to get off a pattern of careless behaviors, to institute mindful choices and to learn to accept some suffering and not always gratified myself instantly.
I will attempt to blog about this journey, what I am learning from it on a daily basis, how I deal with not celebrating with food on the Fourth of July and my birthday on July 23 (if I am still fasting), and, if I break the fast along the way, what caused me to throw in the towel.
Off to my final Diet Pepsi and my two Red Velvet Whoopie Pies.
SAVE THE LIFE OF A YOUNG WOMAN - Link this post to any place young
women go on the Internet who think Fifty Shades of Grey is a romance,
that the exact type of guy we warn young women to run from is somehow
now cool, exciting, and will change if you just love and understand him.
The kind of man Christian Grey is, a serial sex predator, will get you abused, stalked, and
killed. Women every day are filing restraining orders against this kind
of controlling obsessive sadistic psychopath and a good many of them
find themselves with gas thrown at them and set on fire, disappearing
down mine shafts, and shot dead on the courthouse steps. Fifty Shades of
Grey is one of the most dangerous pieces of fiction to get into the
hands of young women that I have even seen. Make sure they read the
story below to get the real ending of Fifty Shades of Grey which would
never have made it to a trilogy if it were anywhere close to the truth. - Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
When Christian Killed Ana
Christian gazes down at me from above, my hands tied behind my head
to the bed rail with that grey tie of his, my ankles bound with rope to
the side rails at the foot. His expression is unreadable but as my eyes
shift from his face to his chest and then to those jeans of his hanging
deliciously off his hips, my inner goddess jumps for joy; heat rushes
down there and I squirm desperately as I wait for Christian to touch me.
Oh, shit, he is so hot.
He runs his hands through that slightly tousled hair of his.
"I'm bored with you, Ana," he says quietly.
I
am stunned. How can he be bored with me? I have done everything he
wanted, minus a few items I put a line through on the contract.
"But
we have only been together a couple of months, Sir!" I had thought I
was different then the train of other women he had been through. "I
thought I was special."
Christian actually laughs.
"Special? What would you think I would find so special about you?" He
admonishes me. "You are a mildly attractive run-of-the-mill college girl
with nothing particularly alluring or interesting about you."
Tears flood my eyes. "But, Sir, you said I was special, different, that you had never had vanilla sex or slept the night with anyone but me!"
"And
you believed me, you little fool." He smirks. "Why don't you bite your
lower lip again? You really think that drives me mad for you, don't
you? It doesn't do anything but make me hate you." He reaches out out
with both hands and grabs my nipples, twisting them cruelly. I
yelp with pain.
Christian looks at me with disdain.
"You don't think I have told each one of my girls how adorable they are?
Don't you realize I told every one the same stupid things that I told
you? You are all so easy to dupe." He sighs. "All of you who think you are going to be the one. You are
going to change me. From what? From myself? I like myself just the way I
am." He leans in and snickers. "Do you know, my dear Anastasia, that I
was never abused as a child? Not once. But, oh, how easy it was to make
you feel so sorry for me."
My inner goddess curls up
into a ball. I feel sweat break out on my forehead. Panic starts rising
in my chest. I look into the eyes of Christian Grey and see nothing
there at all, nothing. Everything I thought he might have been has
vanished and I realize I have been living in a dream. Reality hits. I am
tied up, hand and foot, alone with a sadistic psychopath, a snake, a
demon.
Christian's face appears inches away from mine
behind my wall of tears. "You know all those things that weren't in the
contract? Well, today you get to do them all." He smiles, so coldly, so
evilly. "I am going to use you as my toilet, I am going to put my fist
up your ass, I am going to whip you until your body is covered with
marks and listen to you scream until you have no voice left to scream
with."
He leers at me and suddenly he is holding a
razor sharp knife against my cheek. I feel searing pain and he pulls
the blade back, red with my blood, oh god, my blood, my blood, and he
licks it off with that tongue that I used to adore.
"I am going to cut that annoying bottom lip off of you."
I
start screaming uncontrollably and the hell begins. I am just a young
girl and I thought I had my whole life ahead of me. I now know that I
have never known true love nor had anyone actually make love to
me.Why I ever thought I should be treated in such a demeaning and ugly
manner, I do not know. All I know is that now I have no choice; then I
did. I should have run; I should never have trusted a stranger, a
stalker, a sadist who told me he was so taken by me that he would never
hurt me. How stupid I was.
I will not tell you each and
everything that happened that day, the hours of terror, the hours of
humiliation, the hours of unending pain. I will just tell you what I see
from above my body, well, above the pieces of my body. My bottom lip
that I always bit, he cut that off first. It was then I knew for sure I
was going to die. Next he removed my breasts and then he put them to
his chest and danced around with them while I gazed down at the gaping
holes on my own body. I cannot go on and tell you what he did next, but
when I felt the knife cut through my throat, I wished I had valued
myself a whole lot more than I did the day I met that psycho Christian
Grey.
He is now placing my legs and arms in a suitcase.
What is left of my body, a torso is what I believe they call it, is
lying in the center of the bed. I am not tied up anymore, I note
ironically. My head, yes, that is my head with the bottom lip missing
and the eyes gone from their sockets, it is laying where it was tossed,
in the corner of the room, like an old soccer ball with some of the air
missing from it.
Christian finishes packing up
my parts and he takes them from the room. I see him drive off in his
car, and when he returns a bit later, he showers and dresses,
immaculately as always. He leaves again in his fine automobile and I
follow him down the street. He pulls into an upscale pub and glides over
to the marble bar. He seats himself next to a pretty blonde, college
age. She turns her head and I can see she is immediately attracted to
him.
"I'm Christian," he says softly and he takes her hand. She does not pull it back. I cannot watch any more.
Harkening back to the writing styles
of the earlier American authors – John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, and Carson
McCullers, "Only the Truth" is a story of soul searching, a
psychological mystery which examines the question, “Whom should one love and
when should one quit doing so?” Billy Ray, a lonely and rather slow, uneducated
African-American man living in the mountains of Arkansas, runs across a mysterious young woman
at the railroad tracks. She asks to go home with him and Billy Ray takes her
with him as she requests. He comes to love this woman, Charlene,
unconditionally. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and life is finally
good for Billy Ray. Then Charlene shoots the neighbor and burns down the
neighbor’s house. His happy life destroyed, a confused and devastated Billy Ray
is at a loss. Is the woman he loves “just a troubled girl” or a psychopathic
killer? Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth,
whether it leads him to be able to save Charlene from a death sentence or it
frees him from her spell.
I remember the days in the 1970s when I dressed like Gloria Steinem, wearing Bobby Brooks suits and big sunglasses, I thought I was the picture of feminism. Then, I got married and was an earth mommy and felt I was the picture of womanliness. I may have actually not been quite as feminist or earth motherly as I aspired to be at the time but the one thing I felt at both times was a kinship with other women in a variety of circumstances. I wanted other women to have fulfilling lives whether it be in careers, relationships, the single life, marriage, motherhood, or education. And, I feel women are becoming more and more vicious towards each other and more supportive of women's roles as victims than as proactive fighters for the best that they can be in all walks of life. They are turning against themselves and their natures and blaming chemistry or their bodies or psychologies or each other for their dissatisfaction and disappointment in life instead of the inequity of the system, lack of proper support by our communities, and our culture failing to stand up for proper treatment of women (and men and children). We have gone from oppressed to depressed and accepted our lot in life as chemically and sexually imbalanced, drugging ourselves into the next day.
What the hell happened to us?
What has happened is, we have shifted too much of the blame on ourselves, oddly by submitting to the old-fashioned concept of the emotionally and physically fragile female, giving up our strength, making ourselves dependent on something or someone else.
I went ballistic recently over Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey because both have "heroines" with zero strength in themselves; if they had any backbone, they would have told their creepy stalkers to buzz off. They would have applied themselves in their careers, they would have enjoyed the company of good family and friendships, they would have waited patiently for a good boyfriend/husband that respected them from the start and admired who they were, not just that they were willing to submit to them.
Why don't we write about and promote women who strive to achieve, both in the work world and in the personal world? Why don't we fight to support each other in choosing good mates and good relationships, encouraging each other in striving for the best in creating our families and raising our children? Why don't we stress kindness in marriage, dignity, respect, and not cheating on each other? Why do any women have sex with married men knowing they are helping to destroy another woman's family? Why don't we cheer when other women break through that iron ceiling, achieve in a still man's world, manage to have an opportunity to be both a mother and a businesswomen, either at the same time or consecutively? What is wrong with women these days that we don't hold each others' hands and put our arms around each others' waists and help ourselves climb these hills? Why do we just accept victimhood, take drugs to mask the pain, and give up our lives to the naysayers?
We all will run into roadblocks and not always have great circumstances along the way. I haven't had a perfect life and neither will you or Bella or Ana but for goodness sake, do we have to drag ourselves into the mud and believe that we can't help but be there? Do we have to humiliate ourselves by wimping out, degrading ourselves in bed, in relationships, and at work, or by selling out our sisters?
Fifty Shades of Grey depresses the hell out of me, because a woman supposedly wrote it, but more that women think it is such a cool book. I started to throw up the first time Christian disrespected Ana and then read in total disgust as he did it over and over again and she came back for more. But, I guess it was okay because that total virgin had three orgasms the first time having sex because Christian is such a fine lover....please give me a barf bag. Christian is not hot; he is creepy right from the start and the fact women do not seem to recognize this is very, very sad. I suppose it is because Christian is megarich because if he worked at Petsmart in the story, Ana would have called the cops on him.
Please, ladies, rise up again! Don't lower yourselves into a gutter with psychopaths like Christian. In real life, his behavior is called domestic abuse; he will end up degrading, abusing, and manipulating you, and, possibly, throwing acid in your face or killing you if you try to leave him. You cannot fix a psychopath - regardless of what childhood woes made him one - and at the first sign of disrespect you should run like hell.
Being submissive in sex and in life is stepping back into the ancient past and shouldn't be confused with allowing someone with skill and respect to take the reins when it is useful for them to do so at work or at home; that is why we have management and people who oversee specific things. Labor can be divided with respect to both parties, in employment and in marriage. Even sex can be led by one or the other at times as long as neither is being degraded or humiliated while doing so. Whatever someone does with you or you with them should make them feel good about themselves; anything else means someone is the master and someone is a slave and the slave always loses.
Harkening back to the writing styles
of the earlier American authors – John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, and Carson
McCullers, "Only the Truth" is a story of soul searching, a
psychological mystery which examines the question, “Whom should one love and
when should one quit doing so?” Billy Ray, a lonely and rather slow, uneducated
African-American man living in the mountains of Arkansas, runs across a mysterious young woman
at the railroad tracks. She asks to go home with him and Billy Ray takes her
with him as she requests. He comes to love this woman, Charlene,
unconditionally. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and life is finally
good for Billy Ray. Then Charlene shoots the neighbor and burns down the
neighbor’s house. His happy life destroyed, a confused and devastated Billy Ray
is at a loss. Is the woman he loves “just a troubled girl” or a psychopathic
killer? Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth,
whether it leads him to be able to save Charlene from a death sentence or it
frees him from her spell.
I woke up this morning to a pile of annoying articles about how so few mothers in the US nurse their babies for even three months, articles like this one in Huffington Post. By the time I finished reading a half dozen of them and the comments that accompanied them, I was spitting milk mad.
Don't misunderstand me, I am not mad at the women who failed to nurse their babies at all, or the ones who gave up, or the ones who commented on these articles that some women can't nurse and sometimes it is better that moms give up on breastfeeding and bottlefeed. I am not mad that they wrote that moms shouldn't feel bad or blame themselves, that a comfortable baby and mom with a bottle is better than an unhappy breastfeeding mom and a miserable baby.
Even though I believe most women (all who don't have a weird physical problem or disease) can nurse successfully and most babies (all who don't have a weird physical problem or disease) can nurse successfully as well, I am not mad at those who fail or those that tell moms it is okay if they do.
I am mad at our medical and nursing professionals who refuse to tell 100% of the truth about breastfeeding in America; this makes me sick.
I will go out on a limb and tell the truth because they are too scared to do so. I know I will get comments and emails from this mother and that who will tell me she failed in nursing because she really didn't have enough milk or her baby just wouldn't nurse no matter what. I have totally empathy for these moms because they did try very hard under circumstances that were stacked against them; a society that doesn't support breastfeeding and professionals who screw women over with bad information, bad advice, and outright lies (like "We didn't give your baby formula in the nursery," or "You should pump milk and give your baby a bottle once or twice a day to get him used to it before you go back to work.")
Breastfeeding in America fails because mothers have alternatives (bottles and formula) and are told it is okay. Women in other countries, too poor to buy formula, almost never fail at nursing their babies. Why? Because they have no choice. Don't think for a minute that breastfeeding mothers in these countries are somehow more physically able. They nurse because they have to and some of them, if they could, would prefer giving the baby a bottle. Most of these nursing moms are loving mothers but some are mean women who don't even like their babies but, because society and economics require it, nurse the babies anyway.
I was a La Leche Leader for about six or seven years, a few decades ago. I counseled new moms in person, in the hospital and on the phone. Anytime I heard they were having problems with nursing - "not enough milk," "baby refusing nipple," and so on, I gave them one piece of advice, that if they followed it, they would succeed in nursing their baby; advice that worked, if they followed it, 100% of the time. You heard me, 100% of the time. What was this miracle advice?
Remove all formula and bottles from your house. Go to bed with your baby for twenty-four hours. Nurse on demand. Ignore any pain, lack of let-down, mad screaming baby. Just lay there and keep attempting to nurse. Ignore your tears and your baby's tears. Pretend you are on an island and your breast milk is all your baby has. Eventually, your baby will get hungry and latch on. Eventually your milk will let down. By the next day, you will have milk coming out and your baby will be drinking it. Even if it took you two days, your baby wouldn't starve to death; babies have been found alive days later buried under rubble in earthquakes. Your baby will survive long enough to get milk from your breast. Every woman who followed this advice called me in the morning to rave about her "huge" boobs and her totally nursing baby.
Nature is not stupid. God didn't give women breasts so men could ogle them. He even gave women two breasts just in case one was on the fritz or more than one baby showed up. Hungry babies nurse.
The reason mothers fail at breastfeeding is because, at the hospital, nurses give their babies formula behind their backs even if there is an order for no bottles. Why? Because the babies cry and get on the nurses nerves. Mothers fail at nursing because their babies aren't with them after birth; they are brought to them when it is "time to nurse them." Mothers fail at breastfeeding because they don't nurse enough due to idiots telling them to nurse every four hours; their babies are hungry and their milk doesn't come in. Babies should be fed on demand when breastfed. Babies should never be given a bottle, not even with one's own breast milk because it screws the baby up with nipple confusion. Fathers don't need to give babies a bottle to feel like they are part of their baby's lives; there are a dozen other things they can do with the baby. Mothers don't need a break from breastfeeding or their baby; they need help and support to make their lives with baby easier. One can help them with all the other baby chores; diapering, bathing, rocking, walking, rocking, walking, rocking. One can do all the cleaning and cooking for a new mom and keep her company so she doesn't lose her mind. One can take a mom out with the baby so she can have fun and see other people and places. Babies are very transportable, and when one breastfeeds, no formula or bottles need to be carted along. In fact, if a new mom is doing anything but but laying about with her baby at her breast, shame on those who should be pitching in and making her first two weeks after the baby is born work and chore free.
Women quit breastfeeding because they can or because they don't want to deal with it considering the lack of support and confusion they experience when trying to breastfeed or because they must go back to work and society doesn't support nursing at the workplace. Our society reinforces so much negativity about breastfeeding that quitting seems a good option. With all the support for stopping nursing out there, it takes a mother with a great deal of determination to continue; she must believe in her own mind that there IS no other option for feeding her baby. I have no idea where I got that mindset myself - maybe because I spent time in Africa - but I never once considered bottle feeding my babies. And I kept that mindset in spite of the major nipple pain I had with my first that had me crying through entire feedings during the first two weeks.
But, I never even envisioned I had an option; I must breastfeed my baby and not give her formula because this is what is best for my baby (not trying to appear righteous; I really think seeing African moms nursing stuck in my brain and the fact I was a health nut at the time helped put me in that frame of mind). And so I carried on. Lo, and behold, the pain went away, the nursing went fine and I continued for the next two years. I repeated the process with the next child (without the initial nipple issues). I never learned how to fix a bottle for my babies.
I can live with women choosing not to nurse because of employment; sometimes there is no option. But, we should not as a country delude ourselves into thinking women can't nurse their babies because this doesn't work and that doesn't work and this mom doesn't have enough milk and that baby doesn't latch on properly. Garbage. Put all our American mothers (healthy women with healthy babies) on an island with no bottles and formulas and a few days later you will find 100% of those mothers nursing their babies.
America's professional attitude toward breastfeeding is what makes it so hard for our new moms to be succeed in breastfeeding their babies. If these supposed professionals only told new moms the truth, they could make a real choice; do I want to nurse or don't I? Then they could be successful at whatever road they decided to go down.
Harkening back to the writing styles
of the earlier American authors – John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, and Carson
McCullers, "Only the Truth" is a story of soul searching, a
psychological mystery which examines the question, “Whom should one love and
when should one quit doing so?” Billy Ray, a lonely and rather slow, uneducated
African-American man living in the mountains of Arkansas, runs across a mysterious young woman
at the railroad tracks. She asks to go home with him and Billy Ray takes her
with him as she requests. He comes to love this woman, Charlene,
unconditionally. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and life is finally
good for Billy Ray. Then Charlene shoots the neighbor and burns down the
neighbor’s house. His happy life destroyed, a confused and devastated Billy Ray
is at a loss. Is the woman he loves “just a troubled girl” or a psychopathic
killer? Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth,
whether it leads him to be able to save Charlene from a death sentence or it
frees him from her spell.
Sheriff Chuck Wright of the Spartanburg County South Carolina Sheriff's Office - Guilty of Nonfeasance, Misfeasance, Malfeasance or just Incompetent?
What I didn't read on the web about this South Carolina county and their broken form of justice
Sheriff Chuck Wright and His Only Suspect
By
Don Corbett Board Certified
Investigator-Retired Police Detective
June 3, 2012
Note to The Daily Profiler Readers from Pat Brown: Today’s guest post is written by Don Corbett, a retired police detective, private investigator, and instructor for law enforcement. Like me, he has put in many hours pro bono on behalf of the families of the victims of the now near nine-year-old 2003 Spartanburg Country Superbike Motorsports quadruple homicides. And also, like me, he understands the struggles of police agencies to solve homicide cases and bring them to prosecution. However, he also fully recognizes, that there are some police agencies and government representatives, like those of other professions, that fail to do their jobs, refuse to be accountable for their work product, block oversight, and abuse the powers given to them by the state or the citizens. These particular agencies and individuals need to be identified and corrected if truth and justice is to prevail for the victims of these crimes and their families, and for the perpetrator or perpetrators of these heinous crimes to be removed from the streets so they cannot commit further damage to the community.
Sheriff
Chuck Wright has been heard on local and national television over the past year
stating ad nauseam, “Our form of justice is not making it.” Yet instead of making an
effort to be innovative and try something new to fix his broken form of
Spartanburg justice, he simply took the easy way out and told all women to arm
themselves. The Sheriff and his staff have treated the eight year unsolved cold
case of The Superbike MotorSports Quadruple Homicides in exactly the same
manner, the easy way, telling the victims' families that the Spartanburg form of
justice is broken in one breath (the case has been inadequately investigated
from the start so we can’t fix it) but seconds later telling that they don’t
need any outside help because they have everything under control.
So, the
Sheriff, instead of trying a new proactive approach such as by utilizing outside
assistance from trained, experienced investigators and criminal profilers, valuing fresh sets of eyes and their findings and recommendations, he has
decided he will continue to do it the good ole boy’s way of broken Spartanburg
justice. Keep the facts concealed to only a chosen few who have been doing the
same thing over and over again for eight years without any quantifiable results,
openly lie to the public, mislead the families into believing the case is being
actively investigated by one cold case detective who has 50 other cold cases on
his desk and shooing away any assistance who might identify nonfeasance,
misfeasance, malfeasance or outright corruption on the part of the past
sheriff, himself or his investigators. Why else conceal the facts after 8
years other than that they are hiding something?
Are Spartanburg County South Carolina Sheriff Chuck Wright
and his staff guilty of wrongdoing in the 2003 Superbike Motorsports Unsolved Quadruple Homicide
Investigation or are they just incompetent? That’s a question the victims'
families, residents and news media of Spartanburg County
need answered.
By failing to allow other experienced professional board
certified, retired police detectives and investigators such as myself to review
the cold case file under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and failing to
consider all of the findings and recommendations of the highly
recognized and experienced criminal profiler, Pat Brown (who
DID review the file for a total of 50 hours at the department's request and about which Sheriff Wright
outright lied on camera to the citizens of Spartanburg when he stated, “She's
pretty critical of a case she doesn't know anything about…that she's getting
off the Internet”), by failing to cooperate with them in hopes of developing new leads, Wright sends out a clear
message - to hell with the victims' families and the public; if we can’t solve
this case by ourselves, nobody will. So what if a quadruple murderer still
lives and works in this town with the broken justice system? Maybe will get him
next time. I have my ego to protect!
The Center for Public Integrity recently released its 2012 State
Integrity and Corruption Investigative findings and out of 50 states, South Carolina finished as one the worst five in the US. The
South Carolina Corruption Risk Report Card gave them an F receiving a 57% out
of a possible 100 points. The report can be viewed by viewing this link: http://www.stateintegrity.org/south_carolina.
In the report, South
Carolina received an F in Release of Public Access to
Information, Ethics Enforcement Agencies, Executive Accountability and other
critical areas of government. Sound familiar? It sounds like the Spartanburg
County Sheriffs Office was the place graded.
After working with Pat Brown on this case and looking at the
facts as we know them, it is blatantly obvious that the Sheriff and his
investigators have failed miserably by not focusing on the evidence at hand, not properly investigating the two most obvious persons-of-interest, and not letting the family and
others know what they really have uncovered at this point but, more importantly, what they don’t have not.
Sheriff Wright has forgotten about the family and victims
and has let his ego stand in the way; his broken justice system refuses to
reach out for free assistance. What does he have to lose? Sheriff Wright needs to
quit hiding behind his lame interpretation of the South Carolina Freedom of Information
Act Exemptions section and open this case to those who can develop the
information he needs to put a killer behind bars.
On his first full day in office, President Obama issued an
executive order that turned a new page on open government and emphasized the
importance of transparency, stating, "A democracy requires accountability,
and accountability requires transparency... In the face of doubt, openness
prevails." Apparently Chuck Wright missed the president’s comments or
believes it doesn’t apply to his “Good Old Boy Network”.
A great majority of Spartanburg County residents and the
media are currently under the false impression that their sheriff and staff is
omnipotent and above misfeasance, nonfeasance or malfeasance when investigating
violent crimes and cold case homicides, believing that all cases will be adequately
investigated in a timely manner by a professional-experienced investigator who
is willing to think outside the box, and that they will release pertinent information which will
assist in identifying suspects and murderers. But they have been badly misled
by Sheriff Wright and his “Good Ole Boy Network”.
More and more often, victims’ families are learning that they are again victimized by the very
agency charged with solving the crime. Sheriff Chuck Wright must begin to work
with the public by sharing information with them to take murderers off the
street. He has obviously forgotten he is responsible to protect and serve the
public and needs to be held accountable for his organizational dysfunction and
lack of professionalism.
Each of us knows that
people's trust in law enforcement is increased when their police, sheriff and
related law enforcement authorities can show and demonstrate to the public and
victims' families that they have conducted a thorough investigation with integrity.
By failing to release information on this investigation to other trained
professionals and the victims' families it would appear to the family and public
that Sheriff Wright has failed to adequately investigate the case or has
something to hide. It also breeds corruption which sources have advised me openly
exists in South Carolina.
In this case, Sheriff Wright has intentionally withheld
information from the media, trained outside investigators, the victims’
families and the public by denying them access to the case file, again hiding
behind his lame interpretation of the FOIA law enforcement exemptions section
and what appears to be blatant incompetence in office.
This is a travesty of justice and an insult to the victims'
families who must live every day traumatized by not knowing who and why
someone murdered their loved ones and when and where they will strike again.
And without question, this killer will kill again and may have already done so.
I have made it clear to the Sheriff that I do not need to view any restricted or confidential data that may
affect a future trial and will not copy or record anything he deems restricted.
I also offered to sign a confidentiality and non-release agreement with the
Sheriff.
In this nearly 9 year old blitz style quadruple homicide
where four young lives were snuffed out with no named person of interest or
suspects being publicly identified, Sheriff Wright still refuses to allow the family
or me (acting on their behalf) to view any part of the investigative file in an
effort to develop new leads, locate something that was overlooked by the original
investigators, etc. They had steadfastly refused to allow the family or me to see Pat Brown's profile even though they claimed it was useless. My concern is when does a cold case of this magnitude
become available to the family and their representatives so that they can
confirm that every thing that can be done to solve the case has been done? Simply
relying on Sheriff Wright’s hollow statements that they have done everything in
their power to solve the case is not acceptable and disrespectful to the
families and public.
If the case is never solved by the authorities but left in an
"open-active" status, the family, outside investigators, public and media
will be forever kept in the dark as to what occurred on that hot November
afternoon and a killer will continue to roam the streets to kill again. We believe
the Sheriff needs to open this case file, listen to our recommendations and
findings and solve this case.
Based on my professional opinion as a seasoned board investigator/retired
police detective and my interpretation of the South Carolina FOIA, Sheriff Wright
should have no reason to deny my viewing of the investigative file (minus
restricted data) based on the totality of the circumstances and the 8 + years
that have passed since the crime was committed which certainly confirms I am
not acting prematurely in this matter. If the sheriff never closes the file or
allows others to view it, this investigation will go unsolved forever.
As a retired police detective and board certified
investigator with 30+ years experience it is obvious to me that Sheriff Chuck
Wright is either guilty of nonfeasance, misfeasance or malfeasance for his
total lack of accountability and failure to respond to my repeated official
request for documents which under the FOIA is a clear violation of South
Carolina law punishable by jail and fines. Sheriff Wright has also commented
that if I had been in his office when he received my initial request, he would have
ignored my FOIA request for these records and he would have “decked me” which is an
obvious threat, not to mention extremely unprofessional for a person in his
position. His investigator William Gary, has also threatened to arrest me if I
failed to stop interviewing witnesses while in Spartanburg.
It is further evident that Sheriff Wright has intimidated
others in the community including the media, his own investigators, deputies
and potential witnesses to the extent that they fear repercussions if they
discuss the Supebike Motorsports killings without his authorization.
There
is an old Latin phrasefrom the Roman poet Juvenal, “quis
custodiet ipsos custodies,” that
translates to “who’s policing our police” which desperately needs to be
answered in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Who’s policing Sheriff Wright
and his Posse? Evidently, no one. Sheriff Wright needs to lose his over-inflated
ego and do the “WRIGHT” thing. Open the case file.
Don Corbett is a retired police detective and board
certified investigator with 30+ years of experience in law enforcement and
investigations from the State of Ohio who assists families of murdered and
missing children get the cooperation, information and service they deserve from
law enforcement investigators.
Don Corbett, Columbus, Ohio
May 28, 2012
Contact number 614-565-7189 or email
donaldcorbett@gmail.com
Note: The phrase "I read it on the Internet" is included in this original post because at the time it was written, Sheriff Wright had claimed I never worked with the department and everything I know of the case "I read on the Internet." Clearly, I did NOT get my information from the Internet but from police files but if Wright was willing to make that statement, I was willing to write exactly what "I read on the Internet."
This is my third and final post on the Superbike quadruple homicides that took place in Chesnee, South Carolina in 2003. I will be discussing persons-on-interest and how the evidence in the murders supports taking a stronger look at some of them and doesn't support overfocusing on certain persons to the exclusion of better suspects.
Before I begin this discussion of what I read on the Internet concerning certain persons-of-interest, I want to state that nothing I am putting forth here is any accusation of guilt; no one has been proven to have committed these crimes and they are innocent in the eyes of the law until proven otherwise in a court of law. However, if certain people behaved in certain ways and said certain things that are concerning, then it is not unreasonable to expect that the investigators from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department should have properly and thoroughly investigated these persons, which, from what I read on the Internet, they did not.
There are three main persons-of-interest in the Superbike murders. As in all crimes, the last person to see the victims alive, the first person to see them dead, and anyone who might have had access to the scene in between those times are the persons-of-interest and each needs to be investigated and eliminated.
I want to start with the least likely person-of-interest in these crimes which is the man in the composite the Sheriff's Department has been dogging for almost nine years, claiming straight out that he is involved in the homicides. First of all, from everything I read on the Internet, there is not one shred of evidence linking this unknown man, this customer who was not the last person in the business before the homicides, to the crimes. There is no unknown DNA or fingerprints that can be linked to anyone, so no match is ever going to pop up in CODIS linking some felon to the Superbike murders. Unless this man one day is arrested for the commission of another crime and a firearm is found on his person or in his car or apartment that matches the ballistics in these homicides, then this avenue is pretty much worthless. The only other possibility is that someone rats him out, a warrant is gotten, and the detectives find the gun at his residence. Could it happen? Sure. Not likely, but I am all for a miracle.
Problem is, the man in the composite is the least likely of the three persons-of-interest to have committed the crime. Why? First of all, it is blatantly stupid and hard to believe that this man would go to the business, spend a relatively long time chatting with the people there, sit on a motorcycle, and let all the other customers see his face if he were planning to blow everyone away that day. Furthermore, why would he leave the business and come back to kill everyone? Why not hang around until there were no customers were there or just kill a customer or two if you are psychopathic enough to blow away the others? And since you have let someone see your face, the customer who inspired the composite, why not just kill that man so you don't have a witness left behind to identify you? I find the unknown customer in the composite a red herring of a lead that, yes, should have been followed up but he would not be my top choice of focus.
Let's back up to the last person who was in the business before the murders went down. As I read on the Internet, he was a reasonable person-of-interest and he has not been entirely eliminated. The best reason to look at him was the simple fact he was there right before it all went down and, if he killed everyone and drove off, there would be no witnesses to say it was him. However, his credit card was swiped right before he left, so he would have to be a blazing idiot or extremely angry. Now, the first he was not from what I have read on the Internet; the second was possible. He was a bit annoyed with the shop that day. And, because of this, he needed to be eliminated as a suspect. As I read on the Internet, he certainly had firearms and he refused to take a polygraph. However, it seems, he might have an excellent alibi. As I read on the Internet, his truck was seen going by a convenience store in a video with a time stamp on it that was only two minutes after the last shot was fired. That shot was made at 2:52 pm and his truck was seen going by at 2:54 pm. Now, the drive from the shop to the store is 4.2 miles and supposedly takes eleven minutes according to Google. I test drove that road in a sports car and I was able to cut the time in half.
I was unable to learn from the stuff I read on the Internet whether the detectives had double-checked the accuracy of the clock associated with the video; if the time was off by a few minutes, this could disqualify the alibi of the last customer. However, the time would have to be quite a bit off because it took me around five minutes to drive like a hellion in a small sports car and I had to time leaving the parking lot just before I saw a car coming, so I could pull out in front of it and hope to get a clear road all the way to the store with no slow boat in front of me or anyone pulling on to the road and ruining my speedy run. In fact, it took me a dozen runs to get lucky enough to have no traffic impede me and get my speed down to five minutes. The last customer/person-of-interest was driving an old truck which was pulling a motorcycle, so unless the clock was seriously off (by at least five or six minutes), there is no way he could have made it down the road that quickly. However, the clock should still have been checked so that this man could have been solidly eliminated as a suspect and he wasn't.
Although this would be my second-in-line person-of-interest, I think his alibi could hold, the credit card swipe with his name makes it rather unlikely that he would then commit the homicides, and, although he was a bit annoyed, there is nothing in particular that makes me think he had enough motive to kill everyone there, starting with Beverly Guy.
Now, to my Number One person-of-interest, Noel Lee. Again, I will state that I have no proof from what I read on the Internet that there is evidence to arrest and convict this man. He is only a person-of-interest to me and, in the eyes of the Sheriff's Department, not a person-of-interest at all. How this can be mystifies me. Even if he is innocent of the crime, he should have been investigated and eliminated because he was, as I read on the Internet and you can actually read this on the Internet and even see him say so in Geraldo's video, that he was the one to discover the bodies and make the 911 call. The only reason I mention his name here is because he willingly did so with his appearance on television which means he was not attempting to keep his identity a secret.
The first reason Noel Lee must be a person-of-interest is because he was the one to discover the bodies. As we have seen in many crimes, often the perpetrator shows up on the scene to "find the bodies" because that way. he can have an excuse for being seen there in case he was indeed seen there (or his vehicle was seen there or in the area) and, if he is worried his fingerprints are there or he has blood on his clothing, he can say he touched things when he arrived or he touched the bodies in an attempt to check on their condition or do CPR. To be clear, from what I read on the Internet, Noel Lee, who discovered the bodies, did not have blood on his person or clothing and he did not touch the bodies. He only touched the phone in the business and there is no information available as to whether his fingerprints were found anywhere (supposedly only the fingerprints of the victims were found which is a bit odd considering this is a place full of customers). However, it is unlikely the killer touched anything anyway as this all went down very quickly. The only places he might have touched would have been the outside door and the swinging doors between the front showroom and the back work area. He may have been wearing gloves.
The second reason Noel Lee should be a person-of-interest is because he has no alibi that I know of (from what I read on the Internet). He phoned the business from his home phone and spoke to Beverly Guy about picking up some tickets. As I read on the Internet, that call was placed at 2:25 pm. The shootings took place around 2:50 pm with the last shot being fired at 2:52 pm. Lee placed the 911 call at 3:12.
Noel Lee's home is 11.4 miles from the shop. Again, Google states a rather slow drive with nearly thirty minutes required. Considering I halved the drive to the convenience store in my sports car, I find it highly likely Lee could drive the distance to the shop in his BMW in half that time or less considering he states, as I read on the Internet, that there were no other cars at all on the road on his way to the shop. If he left the house directly after hanging up the phone, he could have been in the store by the time the shootings went down.
From what I read on the Internet, Noel Lee's story changes from his first to his second interview and he says a number of things which are rather peculiar and raise red flags; this is another reason he should have been looked at more closely.
As I read on the Internet:
In his first interview he states: He tells Beverly Guy he is on his way to pick up the tickets, arrives at the store, and thinks his friends are playing a joke on him by lying in blood on the sidewalk in front of the store; then he stated, "I’m calling 911 and immediately went to the phone inside the
front show room on the wall and called 911. She asked me if they was anybody
down and I told her I see his mom down in the back showroom and she said is
there anybody else down? I said I don’t know. I’m not walking into the back of
this place. She said well go back outside and wait on 911 to arrive. So I
walked back out front and waited on you guys to get here." He also states he hadn't been around the business within the last two weeks.
In his second interview, two years later, he states: " For some strange reason, I decided to take a shower instead
of just throwing my clothes on and going up there." And he is talking to his girlfriend the entire time while he is driving. In fact, she tells him not to call 911 from across the street (or to use his cell phone) but tells him to go inside the business (where the killer might still be) to make the phone call. He claims she told him that "if you leave and somebody sees you leave, they are going to think you did it." So he steps over his friend's body that is blocking the door and goes in to make the 911 call. This time he claims he said something totally different to the operator, "I said I need to go see if the fourth person is here because
they were normally four people here and she said do not go into that back room because you do not
know who else is there." He also states he was at the business the previous weekend.
From what I read on the Internet, Lee states that he went inside without a gun because he wasn't thinking and thought if he could get help there quickly, he could save their lives. Yet, in his 911 call, he doesn't get around very quickly to requesting medical assistance; in fact, his whole demeanor is rather breezy. He also states that he looked to see if Brian Lucas's chest was moving up and down and he was going to give him CPR. Apparently, he never does and he says he never saw his chest move up and down during the time it took for the news helicopter to fly overhead.
There was twenty minutes from the time the last shot was fired until the 911 call leaving Noel Lee enough time to leave the scene, ditch a weapon and wash his hands (he had moonshine available in his vehicle and water is available nearby) and come back. A GSR test was listed (as I read on the Internet) but the results were not. Likewise, there was something about a polygraph but further details were not available. Lee has told others he passed one. No tickets were noted to be found inside Superbike nor on Lee (but it was not stated that his clothing or pockets or wallet or vehicle were examined). Lee states he could see the hands of Scott Ponder, yet this would have been impossible by the time he arrived as Ponder's hands were not visible due to the position he was expired in.
Lee's behavior following the murders was considered odd by a number of people who felt he showed little sadness or concern over his friend's deaths. He claims in the second interview that I read on the Internet that he is on medication to keep him from "wigging out" and he has had seizures since the stress of his first marriage and short-term memory problems which causes him to forget things. Also, I read on the Internet, a curious bit of questioning about Lee having left the scene and come back which he said he was 100% positive he didn't do and "would put his hand on a Bible" to attest to that fact. As to his statement that he "for some strange reason" decided to take a shower, statement analysis of this wording indicates deception; first of all, it is odd Lee would decide to take a shower just to go pick up some tickets and take one at that time for no reason, which is exactly why he has to say "for some strange reason;" it is behavior that doesn't make sense. The only good reason a shower would be useful at that time is to delay his arrival at the shop until after the murders go down.
One more strange statement is useful to analyze; that Lee thought his friends were playing a trick on him by pretending to be dead on the sidewalk and he saw them and told them, "Joke's over." In many crimes when a guilty party gives an odd statement in explanation of what they did or thought, what they are doing is using a previous event (because it did happen and then speaking of it is a sort of truthful thing) and moving it forward to another time or situation. My question would be, "Did someone tell Noel Lee, "Joke's over." And if so, what joke did they think it was?
A number of people state Lee had a falling out with Scott Ponder and Brian Lucas and was told not to come around the shop. Yet, he is supposedly picking up tickets that day from Scott. Just before the last customer leaves, that customer overhears Beverly Guy having a heated conversation with someone, he believes she is on the phone with because he doesn't hear another voice or see anyone else. This is exactly the time Noel Lee made his call to Guy. Twenty-five minutes later, Guy is the first one shot in the quadruple homicides.
I want to point out to those who think this might have been a professional hit: there was nothing particular professional about it. Eighteen rounds were fired to kill four people, a number of them completely missing their target. The shots were fired at relatively close range so an average person would have little trouble hitting their target (and, in spite of this, as I read on the Internet, the shooter missed Sherbert and the two escaping men a couple of times). The victims were capped in the head only after they were immobile, so this didn't require much talent either. The killer left all the shell casings on the floor which meant he left evidence. This is not a brilliant crime nor an overly skilled one. It was simply opportunistic. No one saw the killer commit the crime and he got away with it.
From what I read on the Internet, there was no follow-up on Noel
Lee, no phone records checked to see if he was on the phone with his
girlfriend during the drive to Superbike, no serious interrogation, nothing of substance that indicates the detectives considered Lee a serious person-of-interest or even attempted to eliminate him through aggressive investigation.
Noel Lee just may be an oddly behaving fellow with the bad luck to come upon his friends just as they had been shot. But in almost nine years from the very first day, obvious persons-of-interest like Lee were ignored while one questionable person-of-interest got all the attention. This is an egregious failure of the Sheriff's Department to handle the case properly, if one can call this handling the case at all.
Almost no case so mishandled from the start has a prayer of making it to prosecution. Evidence that should have been located and confiscated early on is likely long gone. For a case with no DNA or fingerprints, the loss of time may be a justice killer. All we can hope now is that by my going public with all the information I have read on the Internet, someone with information and evidence will come forward and, by the miracle all the families hope for, justice can still be served.
And, if it can't be, we need to work to make sure our law enforcement agencies receive better training, more funding, and have criminal profilers in place when the case is fresh so that egos and politics don't squash the input of these profilers or of private investigators who come in years later and find the case has been wrongly pursued. We need to insure that the families and citizens have the right to hold their police agencies accountable for their work product, that new laws are instituted - "Sunshine Laws" -laws that require cases to be reviewed by an independent panel after a specific number of years in order to ensure oversight of case handling and police honesty and professionalism.
Something needs to be done. The failure of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department to solve a solvable crime for nearly a decade is not an anomaly in the world of criminal investigations. Cold case after cold case get shelved for similar failures and we are not doing a thing to change a system that is clearly not working.
Harkening back to the writing styles
of the earlier American authors – John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, and Carson
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psychological mystery which examines the question, “Whom should one love and
when should one quit doing so?” Billy Ray, a lonely and rather slow, uneducated
African-American man living in the mountains of Arkansas, runs across a mysterious young woman
at the railroad tracks. She asks to go home with him and Billy Ray takes her
with him as she requests. He comes to love this woman, Charlene,
unconditionally. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and life is finally
good for Billy Ray. Then Charlene shoots the neighbor and burns down the
neighbor’s house. His happy life destroyed, a confused and devastated Billy Ray
is at a loss. Is the woman he loves “just a troubled girl” or a psychopathic
killer? Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth,
whether it leads him to be able to save Charlene from a death sentence or it
frees him from her spell.
"Killing for Sport is the most valuable insight into the minds of serial killers that you will ever read. While other profilers tend to conceal the clear facts behind complex technical language and psychobabble. Pat Brown actually tells it like it is."
