The Myths of Circumstantial Evidence

[Caroline]

I think they would have noticed mens foot prints in the blood or on window sills etc if there had been any . It is not as if they did no forensic inspections at all.

Why would there be foot prints in blood? There are no foot marks from any of the victims and I can't see any paw marks from Crispy either. Jeremy stopped the main flow of blood from Nevill with cushions etc. to prevent the spread.

[lookout]

Ep had no right to suspect murder suicide. What on earth were they thinking. Even if it was murder suicide they should still have taken a lot more than photographs.

Cock up after cock up in my opinion , they simply did not do there jobs.

human nature allows us to believe what we r told to be the truth,  but it was there job to look , question, not believe, gather evidence forensically and every other way. It was there duty and they failed miserably. Total incompetence,

Couldn't agree more--------------and EP know that too ! It was a shambles.

[susan]

Oh so someone washed in WHF ? so that could have been Sheila then?

It is for the reasons I have given not that easy to bury clothes without them being discovered later plus there are not many "dumpsters2 in the fields or storm drains for that matter. And don't you think the police inspected those areas when they eventually changed their minds? This is a small area of English countryside we are talking about - he did not have miles and miles of route to hide things on. Wonder if he picked a day when people had their dustbins out to collect?

Jan I am now seriously wondering if he did strip off then shower or maybe just wear underpants they would burn easily in the Aga.

[Caroline]

Ep had no right to suspect murder suicide. What on earth were they thinking. Even if it was murder suicide they should still have taken a lot more than photographs.

Cock up after cock up in my opinion , they simply did not do there jobs.

human nature allows us to believe what we r told to be the truth,  but it was there job to look , question, not believe, gather evidence forensically and every other way. It was there duty and they failed miserably. Total incompetence,

They were thinking that when Jeremy said he had a call from his father saying Sheila had gone crazy with the gun, that he was telling the truth. That was the first mistake and had they questioned that, they would have caught him a lot sooner. However, initially, they had no need to question what they were being told.

[Jane]

Ep had no right to suspect murder suicide. What on earth were they thinking. Even if it was murder suicide they should still have taken a lot more than photographs.

Cock up after cock up in my opinion , they simply did not do there jobs.

human nature allows us to believe what we r told to be the truth,  but it was there job to look , question, not believe, gather evidence forensically and every other way. It was there duty and they failed miserably. Total incompetence,

I think Jeremy did such a professional job of convincing them that Sheila was responsible that it may have undermined their ability to see things as clearly as they may have done had they gone in cold.

[Caroline]

Jan I am now seriously wondering if he did strip off then shower or maybe just wear underpants they would burn easily in the Aga.

Possibly or just shorts and a tee shirt - who knows?

[Caroline]

I think Jeremy did such a professional job of convincing them that Sheila was responsible that it may have undermined their ability to see things as clearly as they may have done had they gone in cold.

Of course April, it's only with the benefit of hindsight you can question their actions.

[Jan]

I think Jeremy did such a professional job of convincing them that Sheila was responsible that it may have undermined their ability to see things as clearly as they may have done had they gone in cold.

They had years and years of experience between them dealing with liars and criminals so I find that difficult to believe - however in the spirit of debate I agree it is a possibility . But if there was evidence there it would not have disappeared. They were back in the house by the 14th were they not taking photos of the mantle - so I bet they looked at other things as well.

[Jan]

Why would there be foot prints in blood? There are no foot marks from any of the victims and I can't see any paw marks from Crispy either. Jeremy stopped the main flow of blood from Nevill with cushions etc. to prevent the spread.

If he was trying to make it look like his mentally ill sister had committed the murders why would he put cushions down to stem the flow of blood ?

[Steve_uk]

Since they suspected murder suicide they didn't even fingerprint the house let alone go searching outside of it.  April accurately points out any investigations they did regarding the bike, mud, clothes he wore etc were many weeks later.  If I committed a crime I would dispose of evidence in someone else's garbage. The chance of them looking through it to notice an extra small bag is slim.  Even if they did find it they would not know who it belonged to and would not know for sure it was from a crime so turn it in to police.  Some people have disposed of bodies in other's people garbage that were not discovered until after reaching the dump. That is more risky a proposition than some bloody clothing but bodies not even being detected shows you how easy it is to dispose of other things.

Scipio this is not New York but a country area where everybody knew everyone else-think rural Kentucky. Even a package in a trash can might look suspicious.

[susan]

Possibly or just shorts and a tee shirt - who knows?

Caroline I have read on here several times that the shower had been used many have said it was Sheila lookout thought it was Ralph now I am suggesting it was Jeremy if he had worn little or no clothing they would be so easy to get rid of and nothing would ever have been traced back to him he left clean wearing his original clothes.

[Jane]

They had years and years of experience between them dealing with liars and criminals so I find that difficult to believe - however in the spirit of debate I agree it is a possibility . But if there was evidence there it would not have disappeared. They were back in the house by the 14th were they not taking photos of the mantle - so I bet they looked at other things as well.

Indeed they did.but it must be remembered that Jeremy wouldn't have come across as your archetypal liar and criminal. He was erudite, educated and it's simple human psychology that whatever conclusions they later arrived at later, his words would have been a powerful influence at the time.

[Caroline]

If he was trying to make it look like his mentally ill sister had committed the murders why would he put cushions down to stem the flow of blood ?

Why not?

[susan]

Scipio this is not New York but a country area where everybody knew everyone else-think rural Kentucky. Even a package in a trash can might look suspicious.

Steve that is true if anyone put so much as a paper bag in my bin I would know and put it in someone else's bin he would not have risked that being naked is the best so far I think.

[Jan]

Also another question

If Sheila did commit suicide was the bible relevant or were the two officers right that originally they saw it in a different position ? Away from the body ?

Would Jeremy have thought the bible relevant to her suicide ? How much did he know about how her illness manifested itself?

We know from statements that she thought the CIA were after her and she had seen her boyfriend as the Devil - but did Jeremy know about that?

Perhaps the bible was not relevant at all - perhaps June was just reading it before she went to bed?

If only we knew about the fingerprints.