Thiussat
03-17-2007, 01:17 AM
This was on tonight and is one of the better cases I have seen in a while.
My observations:
1) The UM segment said that they were playing a "card game" at a friend's house that involved "black magic, imagination, mythical creatures" etc.. The segment never identified the card game by name. So, I will assume that Michael and Michelle were playing "Dungeons and Dragons." This, as many of you know, is a popular fantasy card game that many teens/young adults play. I know people who have played it and these people are far from being "occultists." This "satan worshipping" label that many zealots try to force upon people who play such games is ridiculous.
2) The segment never mentioned who the friends were or what these friends had to say about that night. Surely the police must have interviewed and cleard them, but I still think that UM should have at least gotten a statement from them. I assume this is how they knew about the card game. Nevertheless, I found this odd.
3) The fact that Michael and Michelle were having an affair seems to be paramount here.
4) Michelle had a stalker. This is 2nd in importance to the fact she was sleeping with a married man, but still important nonetheless.
5) The notion that the psychic espoused about Michael being killed by fellow cult members is far-fetched.. If Michael did know his killer, I will bet that it had nothing to do with the theory about the occult. I have little trust in psychics and I feel UM used the psychic to embellish this segment a little to make it more entertaining.
6) The fact that Michael and Michelle's bodies were found 5 miles apart is bizarre. The segment did not mention she was sexually assaulted, so I will assume she was not.
It is hard to posit a theory about this case based on the info from the segment alone. Michael's wife is not an official suspect because she was cleared by a polygraph. However, there is a reason that polygraph results are not admissable in court. They are notoriously unreliable. I saw research that indicated that polygraphs return false positives up to 25% of the time! The statistics on how often untruthful people can pass them I am unsure about, but I would bet it is also a fairly significant number. Michael's wife does appear believable, but I would assume if she did do it and she passed a polygraph anyway, that she can also be a convincing liar on camera. There was insurance money and she knew Michael was having an affair. However, there are other clues that say she had nothing to do with it.
The stalker would be my #2 suspect. It is possible he followed the couple around that night and took action when he saw them parked in a desolate location. His motive may have been rage when he saw Michelle with another guy. There was so little info on this person that there is not much else to say here. On the other hand, the fact that Michelle was not sexually assaulted kind of makes this scenario unlikely.
I don't think this was a random crime nor was it likely the work of some lone psychopathic stranger who wanted to murder an unknown couple (a la Zodiac). This case does, interestingly, fit the Zodiac's MO perfectly. Anyone notice this? Of course, he is not responsible, but I found it interesting. If this case would have taken place 20 years earlier, perhaps I would list him as a suspect.
I assume that Michael and Michelle did not tell anyone they were headed to this desolate location. This means if the killer knew them, he would have had to have stalked them the entire night. Again, the "friends" at the card game pop up on my mind. They were the last to see them alive, and it is possible Michael told them where he and Michelle were going.
S, it comes down to the wife and the stalker. I don't think that the wife did this with her own hands, but a murder for hire plot is not out of the question. However, I am sorta thinking this doesn't make sense. If it was a simple professional hit, then why all the stabbing and why the separate dumping of the bodies in 2 locations? This crime seems more personal.
This case will probably never be solved unless someone talks. The wife has a motive but the method of killing doesn't fit (unless the hitman was just crafty and tried to cover-up the motive). The stalker makes sense, but no one, except one guy, has ever heard of him. This, also, seems unlikely.
I would have to say look at the friends who last saw them alive. I still think that it had nothing to do with the occult. I saw no evidence of that whatsoever except for the simple fact that Michael had a few books and trinkets relating to the subject.
My observations:
1) The UM segment said that they were playing a "card game" at a friend's house that involved "black magic, imagination, mythical creatures" etc.. The segment never identified the card game by name. So, I will assume that Michael and Michelle were playing "Dungeons and Dragons." This, as many of you know, is a popular fantasy card game that many teens/young adults play. I know people who have played it and these people are far from being "occultists." This "satan worshipping" label that many zealots try to force upon people who play such games is ridiculous.
2) The segment never mentioned who the friends were or what these friends had to say about that night. Surely the police must have interviewed and cleard them, but I still think that UM should have at least gotten a statement from them. I assume this is how they knew about the card game. Nevertheless, I found this odd.
3) The fact that Michael and Michelle were having an affair seems to be paramount here.
4) Michelle had a stalker. This is 2nd in importance to the fact she was sleeping with a married man, but still important nonetheless.
5) The notion that the psychic espoused about Michael being killed by fellow cult members is far-fetched.. If Michael did know his killer, I will bet that it had nothing to do with the theory about the occult. I have little trust in psychics and I feel UM used the psychic to embellish this segment a little to make it more entertaining.
6) The fact that Michael and Michelle's bodies were found 5 miles apart is bizarre. The segment did not mention she was sexually assaulted, so I will assume she was not.
It is hard to posit a theory about this case based on the info from the segment alone. Michael's wife is not an official suspect because she was cleared by a polygraph. However, there is a reason that polygraph results are not admissable in court. They are notoriously unreliable. I saw research that indicated that polygraphs return false positives up to 25% of the time! The statistics on how often untruthful people can pass them I am unsure about, but I would bet it is also a fairly significant number. Michael's wife does appear believable, but I would assume if she did do it and she passed a polygraph anyway, that she can also be a convincing liar on camera. There was insurance money and she knew Michael was having an affair. However, there are other clues that say she had nothing to do with it.
The stalker would be my #2 suspect. It is possible he followed the couple around that night and took action when he saw them parked in a desolate location. His motive may have been rage when he saw Michelle with another guy. There was so little info on this person that there is not much else to say here. On the other hand, the fact that Michelle was not sexually assaulted kind of makes this scenario unlikely.
I don't think this was a random crime nor was it likely the work of some lone psychopathic stranger who wanted to murder an unknown couple (a la Zodiac). This case does, interestingly, fit the Zodiac's MO perfectly. Anyone notice this? Of course, he is not responsible, but I found it interesting. If this case would have taken place 20 years earlier, perhaps I would list him as a suspect.
I assume that Michael and Michelle did not tell anyone they were headed to this desolate location. This means if the killer knew them, he would have had to have stalked them the entire night. Again, the "friends" at the card game pop up on my mind. They were the last to see them alive, and it is possible Michael told them where he and Michelle were going.
S, it comes down to the wife and the stalker. I don't think that the wife did this with her own hands, but a murder for hire plot is not out of the question. However, I am sorta thinking this doesn't make sense. If it was a simple professional hit, then why all the stabbing and why the separate dumping of the bodies in 2 locations? This crime seems more personal.
This case will probably never be solved unless someone talks. The wife has a motive but the method of killing doesn't fit (unless the hitman was just crafty and tried to cover-up the motive). The stalker makes sense, but no one, except one guy, has ever heard of him. This, also, seems unlikely.
I would have to say look at the friends who last saw them alive. I still think that it had nothing to do with the occult. I saw no evidence of that whatsoever except for the simple fact that Michael had a few books and trinkets relating to the subject.