With regard to your last point she was working as a self-employed owner of a caravan site, so must have had something about her. Her demeanour always looked to me defensive as if she were frightened of something: troubled, tormented. How does Shane fit into the equation: he seems to have kept out of the media intrusion and not involved in the cabal between mother and younger son, if that's what it is?
I don’t have anything against CM whastsoever. I think she may be in denial, though. I’m still not sure if LM ever told her if he was responsible for Jodi’s murder, but I think LM had help that evening disposing of incriminating evidence (clothing). Either CM or LM were involved, or both, imo. Another piece of info I’ve gleaned in relation to this case over the past few months, from books and online forums, is that CM’s burgundy Frontera was spotted near the entrance to rdp on the battle road that evening (I think this info came from people who were at the original trial, either as witnesses or who attended the trial out of curiosity ... info has a way of filtering through, though how accurate said info is is up for debate). Regardless, the prosecution built a complelling case against LM; the circumstantial case against LM was overwhelming.
As for SM ... I’ve already highlighted in another thread that his testimony severely undermined his younger brother’s alibi. In fact, for me, SM’s testimony was the most salient evidence of Luke’s guilt; it showed that CM tried to supply Luke with a false alibi (and I think the only reason that she wasn’t charged with perjury was because the prosecution probably felt that she’d endured enough by losing her son to a life sentence and felt sorry for her, to an extent). I also think that SM’s reticence throughout the years (as well as the father’s reticence) about the case speaks volumes. If I thought my own brother was innocent, especially of a brutal murder, I would be very vocal about it and very much in the public eye getting the message out there. But not a peep from SM in all these years. Very telling, imo. Likewise, I’ve always felt that LM’s lack of emotion throughout the trial and at sentencing was concerning and telling (and I don’t buy all these theories that he was emotionless because he was heavily medicated or advised by the judge not to show any emotion; if he was innocent, he would’ve been shouting and being animated, protesting his innocence).