Divorce Records Tell of Troubles

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Crime Scenephoto © 2009 Alan Cleaver | more info (via: Wylio)

Here is an interesting article on the Stacey Burns murder, which talks about her husband’s behavior.  Ed Burns apparently had Stacey quite afraid of him–at one point threatening to cut off “body parts”.  Another time he woke her at 4 a.m., was standing over her and told her “death or divorce”.  Ed was not happy about hearing his wife wanted to separate from him.  Witnesses also told the court, when Stacy filed for an emergency restraining order, that Ed burned her clothes and cosmetics.

Stacey got a restraining order against Ed in 2007 for a year, and a year later, she got it renewed by a judge for a 5 year period, but during that time, she softened again, and let Ed back into her life for her children’s sake.  And it didn’t take long for Ed to petition to the court to remove the restraining order.  That was late in 2008 and by Mother’s Day she was found murdered. 

Stacey had told the court about Ed, “I feel afraid of what Ed would do if the restraining order was lifted. I am fearful of Ed coming into my house while myself and my five children are there.”

Past behavior, as Dr. Phil says, is often a good predictor of future behavior.  

Facts About Lying

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Liar's Club - Chicago, ILphoto © 2007 Angie Linder | more info (via: Wylio)

I found an interesting article from the University of Massachusetts for those of you who are interested in deception facts.

It says:

  1. Sixty percent of people lied during a 10 minute conversation.
  2. The average person told two or three lies in that 10 minutes.
  3. The people in the study were surprised that they lied so much!
  4. Men and women lie about the same amount. They just lie about different things.
  5. Women most often lie to make others feel better.
  6. Men most often lie to make themselves feel better.

How many lies are told per day to the average person then?

I suggest it is best not to think about it!

(reposted from 2007)

Julie Gonzalez Case on Nancy Grace Tonight

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Julie Ann Gonzalez (Photo courtesy of her family)

An Eyes for Lies reader sent this to me:

On tonight’s episode of Nancy Grace: America’s Missing – a show that aims at finding 50 people in 50 days – on HLN, Grace will be conducting an in-depth expose of Austin resident, Julie Ann Gonzalez, who disappeared in March 2010.

Here’s a link to the main show page, with info for tonight’s show:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/nancy.grace/

And a post about Julie Ann’s case:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/24/50-people-in-50-days-search-for-texas-mom/

Nancy Grace: America’s Missing airs weeknights at 9pm ET on HLN.

You can read my original thoughts on Julie’s estranged husband, George Gonzalez here.  Let’s bring Julie home! Can you help us do that?

ABC’s 20/20 Mother’s Day Murder

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Friday night ABC’s 20/20 ran a show on Stacey Burns, who was murdered on Mother’s Day.  Her body was left by the killer to be found by her children Mother’s Day morning.  The show profiles two individuals who could be responsible for her killing:  her ex-husband and an ex-boyfriend.

It’s a truly perplexing mystery.  The ex-husband had made threats against his wife, and she had a restraining order against him.  He ex-boyfriend was somewhat obsessed by her according to friends, and his DNA was found under her fingernails.

While watching the interview, I have gut belief at who is responsible, but from the interview, there were no concrete clues that were leaked out, unfortunately.  It’s much like the Hailey Dunn case.  I have a gut instinct, but there is not hard behavioral evidence in these two cases that will give me what I need to make a definitive decision based on behavior.  That doesn’t mean that these two cases can’t be solved by behavioral evidence, it just means I’d need to ask more direct questions myself to get to the truth. Not all interviews will provide the questions to leak the clues…

Steve Kardian Comments on Denise Vernier

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Steve Kardian and I talked about Denise Vernier as her body was recently found after she went missing in September from Ontario, Canada. Steve Kardian has over 30 years experience as a career law enforcement officer, detective, sergeant and chief criminal investigator. Steve shares his thoughts with us:

From a law enforcement perspective, I find it extremely out of the ordinary under the circumstances that the authorities have publicly stated that they do not believe that foul play was involved in the death of Denise Vernier.  Denise was found in an area obviously not very accessible to the public, the time period she’s been missing is lengthy, the couple was separated according to her brother, and her husband may have been the last person to see her alive.

 The possibility exists that the remains were found in such a way that it may appear to have been an accident, however, the autopsy will likely yield the cause of death (accidental, intentional, natural causes or inconclusive). Dental records are the fastest way to determine a person’s identity and I suspect that her body was in a fairly advanced state of decomposition due to the the fall weather, plus wildlife may have got to her. It’s always easier from a LE prospective to go from a suspicious death investigation to non-suspicious rather then the other way around. A lot of evidence can be lost in the process. 

That being said law enforcement will refrain from labeling someone a person of interest or suspect until they have exhausted most, if not all of their attempts to extract information/cooperation from a subject. The old adage keep your friend close and your enemies closer is true to life. LE wants to be your friend for as long as possible and before you retain counsel. Often the guilts party believes that he is smarter than LE and we want him to keep thinking that way!

Thanks, Steve!!

Steve Kardian is one the nation’s go-to experts on issues of women’s safety, crime prevention and risk reduction. Steve is a national media consultant for Inside Edition, CNN, Fox News, The Morning Show, CBS, NBC, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, Best Life Magazine, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated. Steve Kardian is called upon by the national media to offer solutions and interpretations to many of the nation’s most high profile cases.