Shelley’s Last Breath: 48 Hours

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Reprint from May 11 2010


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Last Saturday 48 Hours featured the story of Shelley Tyre and David Swain, a married couple who took a Caribbean vacation. While on a dive, the two separated according to David, and when David surfaced, Shelley did not. Shelley died on that dive. Was it an accident or murder?

Read moreDavid Swain was eventually convicted of murdering his wife, and I have to say that I agreed with the verdict. When 48 Hours interviewed David, it appeared to be after the verdict, which we must remember would subdue or eliminate clues to deception as the high stakes are gone, though in David’s situation, I believe clues are still present.

David has absolutely no emotions about the loss of his wife. He doesn’t give us reasonable answers to fair questions, which leads me to believe he isn’t a victim. When asked how he felt when his in-laws thought he killed their daughter, David said he felt sad. That just doesn’t fit with a man who is wrongly accused of a murder he didn’t commit– the murder of his wife! He should be angry, but when questioned if he was, he said her parents didn’t understand diving. I’m not buying it.

David quit CPR within “minutes”, too, which is not common for professionals and David was an EMT. One witness said that David was “emphatic” his wife was dead, which surprised people, and when helped arrived, David said he didn’t want any extraordinary measures taken — he’d seen dead bodies before. Most people who lose a loved one are the last to give up hope. Why was David so accepting of Shelley’s death so quickly?

David denied that he had any affair with Mary Bassler to the point it was absurd, if you ask me. Why would he do that if he was honest? You can see a copy of a letter he wrote to Mary here.

Another thing that tipped me off was the fact that he wants us to believe he is a non-emotional guy–that’s why he isn’t showing emotions for his wife. But if you watch David when they talk about his brother killing his mother, amazingly, David has emotions! He feels pain at the loss of his mother some 30 years ago, but when it comes to the recent death of his wife there is nothing! Isn’t that interesting? Obviously, one death pained him while the other one didn’t, sad to say. If he didn’t feel emotions, it would be across the board, but its not. I could go on and on…

But by far the most peculiar thing I saw on 48 Hours was what David said himself. At approximately 19:00 minutes into the show, David said, “Everybody keeps thinking that I’m doing all this for money. I’m just as happy being flat broke as I am when I’m fat and rich. Probably happier flat broke. Less hassle.”

What?

Did David just make himself culpable? Everybody keeps thinking I am doing all this for the money”. If you are a victim, do you feel any culpability whatsoever? If you were innocent, wouldn’t you say, “People think I did this for the money.” Why is he still “doing all this”?? He is in prison for Pete’s sake. I think it is the tense of the words that he used which really set me off.

Why is he still in action?

I Survived

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This is a fascinating video of a victim recounting her story of being stabbed and what sounds like being buried. She smiles throughout the recollection.

I watched a victim on Oprah last week recount her story and smile, too. It was noteworthy.

Do you know what it means?

What expressions do you spot in this video?

Research: “Manifestations of narcissism in physical appearance”

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Here is a fascinating study on the manifestations of narcissim in physical appearance.

Silhouette :-)photo © 2009 Mohammed Al-SULTAN | more info (via: Wylio)

Expression of the Day

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PHOTO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

 

 

Here is an interesting photo of woman who appears to be in the spotlight.  There are three faces in this photograph that reveal information.

The subject of the photo seems to be the subject of the crowd as well as we see a photographer taking her photo in the background.  The subject projects confidence as well as a subtle positive emotions with perhaps a hint of surprise. I wonder if she recognizes someone in front of her.

We can surmise this is a positive experience for the photo’s subject because there are no signs of sadness, distress or anger in her face.  There are no negative emotions expressed. She has symmetrical features as well which is supportive of a person who is outgoing.  Do you remember the outgoing kids from school?  Most of them had symmetrical features, too, which we consider to be more attractive. People who are insecure or shy often express doubt or low level subtle fear in their face. They express their uncomfortableness in the face.

The camera woman also has a subtle expression of happiness, too. You can see a subtle smile.  She looks pleased that she is getting the photograph. The photographer has a humbleness about her, doesn’t she?  How do we articulate why that is?

The woman on the far left of the photograph does not look excited to be there. She appears to be tired of the crowds.  Her eyelids are heavy and her head is ever-so-slightly tilted. She almost looks “bored” for a better word. She clearly sees the person who took this photo.   By her reaction, she either doesn’t know the subject of this photo, or could careless about her…

What do you see when you look at this photograph?

Predicting a Person’s Propensity for Anger by Looking at Faces

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Adriano at Anger Managementphoto © 2009 Dario | more info (via: Wylio)
Here is interesting research out of the Brock University in Ontario Canada as written by ScienceDaily.com:

“Psychologists Justin M. Carré, Cheryl M. McCormick, and Catherine J. Mondloch of Brock University conducted an experiment to see if it is possible to predict another person’s propensity for aggressive behavior simply by looking at their photograph…The photographs were very revealing: Volunteers’ estimates of aggression correlated highly with the actual aggressive behavior of the faces viewed, even if they saw the picture for only 39 milliseconds.”

What do you think of this study? Does it open your eyes to thin-slicing?

I believe this is the core of my ability to be able to thin-slice people’s personalities from their facial expressions and facial features. 

I’ve been looking into research on this, and what scientists are discovering is that people are able to do this, and do it amazingly accurately on other attributes as well.  Are you surprised?

Here is a link to the research abstract for the science discussed in the Science Daily article.