Confess to a murder you didn’t commit?

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Brief Case Summary Here at Wikipedia

CBS News show 48 Hours profiled a case on Saturday night about a Halloween night murder in Columbia, Missouri, a few years back. A newspaper editor, Kent Heitholt, was found bludgeoned to death beside his car in the parking lot at 2:00 in the morning — and police couldn’t solve the case.

For two years.

Then, a local young man started talking to his friends and telling them he was dreaming about the murders. The young man finally went to the police and told them.

You have to watch the video of the young man, Chuck Erickson, talking to police. Go to this page, and then on the right-hand side of the screen, you will see Chuck on a video screen . Watch the video footage. Chuck is being lead by police.

For some strange reason, this young man either convinced himself he was the murderer from his dreams, or was lead by police and then convinced by their actions he was the murderer. Perhaps this young man is mentally ill and twisted and wanted to see how far he could take things by trying to get his friend convicted and sentence to prison. I have no idea what the motivating factor is to admit to a crime he didn’t commit, but I can tell you I don’t believe Chuck killed anyone.

I have little doubt that Chuck Erickson has a troubled past. More than that, I think Chuck Erickson is likely to be pathological. He is a classic “neutral person” who doesn’t express one OUNCE of emotion. He is like a drone. Void and empty. With that, I can tell you what wouldn’t motivate a young man like Chuck to go to the police and confess: a guilty conscience. Chuck didn’t and still doesn’t have any emotions — let alone a guilty conscious. When Chuck talks and points out Ryan Ferguson in court, he is saying what he thinks he should say without any conviction in his face or voice.

I do not believe that Chuck Erickson murdered anyone. Nor do I believe his friend, Ryan Ferguson is guilty, either. (FYI: Ryan was sentence to 40 years in prison. An innocent man is sitting in jail).

When I see Ryan Ferguson talk, I truly believe what he has to say. In the first thirty second clip of Ryan on the show, when he said he was glad his parents believed him, Ryan flashed a an expression which showed genuine relief — which was congruent to what he was saying. It was at this point, I knew Ryan was innocent. And the more Ryan talked, the more he convinced me. His emotions matched his words and his actions. It was all congruent.

Here are other reasons why I don’t believe either committed the murders:

  1. The crime scene was bloody. Blood spatter was everywhere — yet no one saw these unprofessional high-school-aged killers with bloody clothes, or found bloody clothes disposed of.
  2. Nor did the police ever find the murder weapon.
  3. Don’t tell me youth like these can commit the perfect murder without a conscious plan to commit murder. I don’t buy it. I personally suspect this was a politically motivated murder executed by a hitman. It was too perfect.
  4. How come the police were never able to link the two boys to the crime with DNA? The police had DNA — a hair in the victim’s hand.
  5. While there was a janitor in the building who thought he saw two boys in the parking lot, he wasn’t able to give any description of them for years! He only remembered when the police told him what he was supposed to remember. Furthermore, this janitor has a shaky past (as he was in prison).
  6. Chuck Erickson comes across as a man who feels no emotion, has no emotion or feelings for any other person. He is emotionally void. When he spoke in court, I did not get one hint of support that he was telling the truth. Everything he said however points to a lie.
  7. The evidence against Chuck that he is a liar is mounting. Chuck’s story about the murder involves the two boys who were at the time of murder in high school going back to a bar after the crime. If this is accurate, the boys would have returned to the bar after 2:00 a.m. The bar closed at 1:30 a.m. Chuck’s story is a lie.
  8. Ryan Ferguson emotions, and facial expressions were all consistent with what he was saying. I have no doubt this boy is honest in the face of all of these facts.

An Innocent Man: Convicted

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I believe Daniel Wade Moore is an innocent man. He was tried and convicted by a jury in the state of Alabama for the murder of Dr. David Tipton’s wife. You can read the story here. He was also sentenced to die.

Just recently, Moore was set free, due to the discovery by the defense team that the prosecution suppressed evidence in the case. The defense team immediately filed for a new trial. The judge, upon review of the new evidence, in the case agreed with the defense, and went on further to state that trying the defendant again would amount to double-jeopardy, and he released Daniel Wade Moore.

Then upon review, the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals stayed the judge’s previous decision, and put Moore back in jail. The Court of Appeals must now make the ultimate decision in this case to free Daniel Wade Moore, or to give him a new trial based on the new evidence.

The new evidence in this case is an eyewitness account of a neighbor who says she saw Karen Tipton alive at 3:30 pm–more than two hours after the prosecution testified she was dead. Somehow the police lost her report.

Furthermore, the new evidence discovered by the defense reveals an FBI report that was never shared with the defense.

The evidence in this case is mostly circumstantial.

CBS News 48 Hours profiled this story on Saturday night. And they aired plenty of footage of both Daniel Wade Moore and Dr. David Tipton.

When Daniel Wade Moore talked, he was honest and truthful. He was consistent. He was genuine. He left little doubt he was truthful, though he did tell a lie that landed him in jail in the first place. Originally, he told his uncle he was in the house when Karen Tipton was killed. He now says he said that only to get his father and his uncle to leave him alone. He was a drug addict and wanted his space. I believe this is the truth.

Dr. David Tipton, however, gives me great pause.

His facial expressions were very inconsistent with what he was saying. He had glee in his eyes, a sense of joy and pride, and accomplishment glimmering in them that didn’t fit with his story. His joyful expressions appeared when he wasn’t supposed to be joyful. When he said no, you could see a glimmer of a yes come across his face.

His expressions didn’t match his words, which indicates deception.

I found Dr. David Tipton’s facial expressions arrogant, glimmering with a sense of accomplishment so much so that my heart pounded in violation. Dr. David Tipton scares me to pieces because of his callousness.

He is one cold, calculating man who I do not trust.

Give me the option to be in a dark alley with Daniel Wade Moore or Dr. Tipton, I’d choose Daniel Wade Moore hands-down every time.

Daniel Wade Moore needs to be set free.

Click on the labels below for updates to this story…

Murder on Grapevine Lake

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Last night, my husband and I were catching up on previously recorded TV shows, when we watched Saturday night’s CBS 48 Hours: Murder on Grapevine Lake.

David Nixon, a married man with a son from a previous marriage shows up dead — shot in the head and brutally burned to death on the side of the road. The question is who killed him?

60 minutes did a quick intro segment. They introduce you to his current wife, his son and his ex-wife. You aren’t able to tell who did it — because in the small segments, no one lies.

Then still within the first 2 to 3 minutes of the intro, they segway into a police interrogation tape. You can barely see it. It’s black and white, blurry, fuzzy and very small but as I listened to it, I quickly stated to my husband, “She lied.” His first wife did it — I declared.

My husband said, “No, that woman was his current wife.” He paused the DVR.

By the timing of the segment and the switching back and forth between intro pieces, I got confused about who was who. I thought the next person they were talking with was Donna, not Tracey.

Before my husband rewound the DVR, I said, “Whoever that is in the video tape — they are lying!!”

He replayed the tape, and he was right, it was Nixon’s second wife, Tracey.

Tracey sat in there in the police station and the police asked her two questions in this segment.

When they ask her these two questions, what caught my eye wasn’t her face. I couldn’t distinguish it. It was her response to the question that focused me in. I think they asked her “Why did you do this?” or something of that nature (unfortunately, they have entirely different footage on their website they didn’t even have on the show! so I can’t show you).

The first thing that Tracey did is what caught my eye. The second thing she did within seconds confirmed to me she was lying.

First she repeated the question the police asked her. Out loud. Then she turned on this winy baby-pout voice that sounded like poor-me-poor-me-I’m-being-picked-on-unfairly. You could hear she was playing the poor little hurt victim after the question even though she denied any involvement.

When you are being questioned for murder and you didn’t commit it, you don’t have the feel-sorry-for-me attitude. It doesn’t fit. It’s not normal or natural for adults.

Second, you don’t have to repeat the questions asked of you out loud. You heard the question or you don’t, and if you don’t — you ask for clarification. Many times people who lie — though NOT ALL PEOPLE who do this are liars — will repeat everything you say to them because they are trying to keep their lies straight. This behavior is a notable point, at best. Combine Tracey’s two behaviors — and bingo — you have a big tip-off.

Within the first couple of minutes, I had my answer about who was lying, but I didn’t know WHY.

We watched the rest of the show after that — and amazingly Tracey gave away more and more clues. Her eyes flashed a expression of glee at one point, she kept repeating questions asked of her, she stuttered, she couldn’t answer important questions.

Thankfully, at the end of the show, 48 Hours showed a jury convicting her! She is eligible to be out of prison in 20 years — at the age of 55. Now that is scary. This woman is a complete psychopath!

Michael Blagg — 48 Hours

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Last night, CBS news program 48 Hours aired a segment about Michael Blagg, a man whose wife had disappeared and was later found dead — shot in the head — at the local garbage dump. Michael Blagg’s six year old daughter was also missing and has never been found.

Michael Blagg swears by his innocence that he had nothing to do with the murderers. 48 Hours takes you through the unfolding story so you can be the judge as to what happened. Did Michael Blagg do it? Or did someone else?

Watch a segement of the story here. You can see Michael Blagg talk for yourself.

Within the first few minutes of the show (less than 5 minutes actually), I told my husband this guy is guilty. He isn’t trstuworthy — long before you have any reason to suspect Michael Blagg.

At first, it was just a strong intuition, and intuition that fought heavily with my desire to “want” to trust him. Michael Blagg looks innocent, kind and like the all-American-neighbor next door. Chillingly so. So much so you want to believe him, but I got this gnawing “No! No! No!” in the back of my head — yelling at me. So, I made the call to my husband that he did it — instantly — and then I waited to see why.

My husband watched the show intently at that point. He wanted to see the outcome — curious at my call because I had no basis to make it outside of hearing and seeing Michael talk about the morning he found his wife missing.

There were multiple reasons why I felt Michael was guilty outside of my gut instinct as the story unfolded.

First, his phone messages home to his wife from work the morning his wife disappeared weren’t “normal”. The inflections in Michael’s voice were abnormal and inconsistent with a man who was calling home wondering where his wife was. I could clearly hear deception in his voice.

Second, his call to 911 was odd as well. When some people calculatingly lie, they slow their speech. They try to act “rational” and “calm” as if to be normal — but when you find such a gruesome discovery of blood like Michael did, calm doesn’t naturally prevail yet Michael was acting calm. It’s inconsistent and a big clue something is fishy.

Also, when Michael called 911, he forgot to even look for his daughter!! Why? Perhaps because he didn’t naturally wonder where she was — because he knew where she was?? A father whose wife and daughter disappeared wouldn’t forget such big details as a daughter. This was another big red flag.

Michael Blagg was a smart guy — and he believed he was so smart, he could get away with murder, and he did for nearly seven months (before they found his wife’s body).

Michael Blaggs case was weak. All they had was speckles of his wife’s blood in the back of her mini-van. That was it. There was no other evidence to convict him — yet a jury found him guilty. And I agree with the verdict. I think it is justice in this case.

What do I think happened?

I think when Michael Blagg’s wife had a hysterectomy, she lost her sexual drive and desire. She didn’t find sex interesting like it used to be or perhaps she got frustrated. In either case, this is what I believe drove a wedge through the marriage.

Michael Blagg is a high testosterone-driven male. He was a fighter pilot. He wanted and demanded a fulfilling sex life from his wife — and when she wasn’t able to meet his needs, he turned ugly. He got mad. He viewed pornography on the web and visited two escorts.

Michael Blagg blamed his wife for taking away his sexually fulfilling relationship– and hence he wanted to eliminate her. He believed it was all her fault and he blamed her — deeply — for his loss.

With that, he felt his only option was to eliminate her in the least costly way he knew how. Divorce would put financial burdens on him that he didn’t think were justified as he was the one in his mind who was being denied.

Warped, I know…but that is what Michael Blagg was thinking, if you want my two cents.

Totally Perplexed

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CBS news show 48 Hours ran an episode on Saturday night about a medical examiner in Memphis, Tennessee, who was found wrapped in barbed wire around his hands, feet and face. The story was titled Terror at the Morgue. It was gruesome.

Furthermore, the medical examiner was locked up with TWO padlocks locks around each hand forcing him into the crucifix position over a grated window. And worse, the medical examiner had a real live homemade bomb super-glued to his chest.

When he was found, Dr. O.C. Smith told police that he was attacked after leaving work late at night. He told the police that someone threw lye at him to render him blind and then they went about tying him up and attaching the bomb.

He said the assailant told him, “Push it, pull it, twist it, and you die. Welcome to death row.”

After a year and a half investigation, the police were not able to come up with a plausible assailant. Early on in the investigation, investigators did focus on a death row inmate that Dr. O.C. Smith knew well: Phillip Workman. Phillip Workman was accused of robbery and killing a cop — and he always maintained he didn’t kill the cop. Workman managed to get a clemency hearing — a hearing that Dr. O.C. Smith devastated by presenting new and convincing evidence that supposedly showed Workman was in fact guilty. Dr. O.C. Smith sealed Workman’s death sentence. Workman says to police Dr. O.C. Smith’s testimony was all lies.

After months of investigation, the police were unable to find anyone who could have carried this out on behalf of Workman so they dismissed him from the list of suspects.

Furthermore, the EMT who arrived on the scene where Dr. O.C. Smith was shackled said that his wounds were not consistent with his story. If someone splashed lye into his face, why didn’t he have burns under his eyes? He only had it on his cheeks. Why didn’t the barbed wire injure him more? He didn’t have puncture wounds…only scratches from it. How could that happen?

The police said that Dr. O.C. Smith’s also got his story mixed up. He didn’t clearly recollect how he was tied up with the barbed wire. One time he thought his feet were tied first, another time he remembered his hands being tied first.

What really happened that night?

Well, the state of Tennessee charged Dr. O.C. Smith with the crime of doing this to himself to get attention. Yet Dr. O.C. Smith was a well-recognized and well-established medical examiner for the county for over 20 years.

While watching Dr. O.C. Smith, I am totally perplexed. He seemed to say the right things. He showed some emotions. Yet with the questions raised in the case, I do lift an eye-brow.

I reject the claim made by the state that Dr. O.C. Smith has Munchausen disease — a disease that would have caused him to do this for attention — because he got plenty of attention as the medical examiner according to 48 Hours. But I question how come the lye didn’t get onto his cheeks underneath his eyes and I wonder why the barbed wire didn’t puncture his face? It’s simply odd.

Dr. O.C. Smith was tried in a court of law — however the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict, deadlocked and the case has yet to be retried. The state, while still maintaining their belief that Dr. O.C. Smith did this to himself, doesn’t believe they have enough evidence to try the case again so Dr. O.C. Smith is free.

Dr. O.C. Smith says he fears for his life still…got a guard dog and now carries a gun. He no longer works for the county.

While I want to believe Dr. O.C. Smith when he talks, I can’t say it with 100% certainty if he is honest or not. I have to pass. This could go either way. I cannot make a call here. Dr. O.C. Smith does act very similar to a pathological liar. Pathological liars usually say all the right things, and yet in a weird twist, their expressions are usually baseline — more baseline than normal — and Dr. O.C. Smith’s emotions are not very deep — which is a concern.

This case simply stumps me at this point. How I would love to have access to more footage of Dr. O.C. Smith to see if I could come to a stronger conclusion.