The college kid suspect

[jameson245]

1 - The killer might be a college kid who was home for the holidays.  After spending the day with his family, it would have been easy to tell his parents he was going to go catch up with friends he had not seen since he now lived so far away.    Understandably, a family would not want to offer up a son/brother as suspect when the police were so keen on this being a domestic incident - - but 20 years have passed and if the man has continued a life of crime, the family may now be less willing to protect him.  I would like to see a story run on the evidence pointing to an intruder and specifically suggesting this might be one answer.

2.  The killer may have been a student at CU who did NOT go home for the holidays and was alone, lonely and very angry.  He would have had to have had SOME knowledge of the Ramseys and anger towards them or jealousy for what they had that he did not.   Since the tape found on the body had recently been manufactured in Hickory, NC, I think it might  be interesting to check on students from Catawba and surrounding counties in NC - - someone who may have gone home for Thanksgiving and picked up a roll of tape from a relative who worked at the mill.  Just a thought, but I have not heard they located any other tape from that short run so  - - what could it hurt to check?

[Toth]

(08-06-2017, 11:08 PM)jameson245 Wrote: 1 - The killer might be a college kid who was home for the holidays. 

Might be. Not all college kids come home to eat decent food for a change, get their laundry done and replenish their discretionary funds but it really is difficult to get away from home on Boxing Day. Sleeping off large meals and unpredictable visitations would be a problem if someone wanted to disappear from a family gathering for awhile but "family" has different meanings. 

I've always viewed the intruder as probably a 'loner' with few ties to anyone much less family. Toth's favorite suspect, GamePlayer, lived in Atlanta but was officially employed by a Denver government contractor so a trip to Colorado might seem reasonable. He was off the internet at that time but could well have been in rehab or anywhere else. Not everyone has a large family gathering, not everyone eats turkey, not everyone sings Christmas carols.

Rather than a quick and uncertain escape from a family gathering, its more likely that the intruder knew he would have plenty of free time. And remember Lou Smits admonition: after the crime he would have been too excited to sit down. So the block of time from a late afternoon entry to a sunrise exit is quite an extensive one and is made even longer by the intense emotion which would prevent a return to a family abode and normal social interaction.

[jameson245]

As I get older, I admit I love doing prep work the day before a holiday, getting up at 6am to start the turkey and get in the shower. I love seeing the crowd start arriving at 11, the visiting and the women working together to get the dinner ready, the guys visiting and putting the leaves in the table - even setting the table - - doing everything that needs to be done in that room. I watch the few appetizers disappear and clear that table before getting it ready to be a dessert buffet. I like setting out the food and trying not to forget anything. If dinner is set to start at one, I can count on us all sitting for an hour, eating and eating more, visiting before the table is cleared and people fix plates to carry home. We split into smaller groups to visit - - and a few jump in to help put the food away and do all the dishes. THEN we have dessert at about 3:30 - - who had room earlier? - - and again we are at the table visiting and enjoying being together. Everyone carries their own plates to the kitchen so after all are gone I am left with maybe a dozen dessert plates and silverware - - and that's IT! By 6 evereyone is ready to go. The men take down the big table, the women pack up the stuff they need to take home - - and by 6:30 I am DONE! Doesn't matter if any of the kids are actually living with us, by 6 they are FREE of any and all family responsibilities and welcome to go out with friends or go to a movie or engage in whatever holiday fantasies they had that did not involve me.

I think that is the norm - - the older people have been up since dawn and the younger ones still have energy.

So I think my theory works - - especially for someone like Michael McElroy who had a website describing his obligatory morning with family - - and did not say what he did that night.