Many people lately have been talking about Voice Stress Analysis (VSA). Is it a reliable way to detect deception? Many companies are in the market today selling VSA tools, but there isn’t much science to back these tools up unfortunately.
Here is a study I found on voice stress analysis (VSA):
Did you see Dateline on Friday night? Tom Foley and his wife lived on a farm in Coldwater, Michigan. In February 2009, they were going to attend a birthday party. Tom decided to leave early with his son and his son’s friend, and his wife, Darlene Weber-Foley was going to meet up with them later.
Foley told his son to go start the truck while he did a few last minute things and when the kids went out in the yard, they heard a loud bang. Many wonder if the boys heard the gunshot that killed Darlene. Tom told them it was a window he broke, though someone came forward later to say the window was broken a week before.
I did not believe Tom Foley when I watched him. His emotions on the stand were not genuine. He dropped a lot of red flags for me as well when he talked about things. Listen to the 911 call above. The dispatcher says, “She fell in the shower?” Tom says, “No.” Then he corrects himself and says, “I don’t know”. Whoa!! Huge red flag. If Tom truly didn’t know what happened, how could say “No” so surely?
Tom Foley was originally convicted, but got a new trial based on new evidence and was eventually set free. I do think the majority of the interview of Tom on Dateline was taken after his trial, so you must remember once he was set free, the stakes in the situation dropped dramatically. Remember that when looking for the truth!
Many people are speculating about what happened the night Natalee Wood drowned out at sea in 1981. She was 43 years old. She was on Robert Wagner’s boat with Christopher Walkens, and the boat captain Dennis Davern. Davern came out last week publicly and said he believes there was foul play on the boat that night, though he remained silent all these years. He has co-authored a book on this as well.
The question is: Is Davern believable?
I have to say when I watch him speak, he is consistent and and he doesn’t appear to be the type who would be motivated for money. He is emotionally flat in demeanor and comes off as average or above average in intelligence, an introvert and yet social awkward. The word Asperger comes to mind when I think of Dennis Davern, though I have no idea if he does or does not have the syndrome. The fact that he didn’t speak out all of these years, however, does not contradict his personality, from what I see. So from what I have seen to date, I do not see any red flags.
On 48 Hours on Saturday, the lead investigator on the Wood case, Duane Rasure, spoke out and said that he has now become aware that Robert Wagner has changed his story, though he still believes Wagner. Rasure originally found broken glass on the boat, and Robert Wagner said it was because of rough seas earlier in the week. But in Wagner’s memoir, he wrote, “At one point, I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces. Natalie was below decks at that point.”
Why on earth would Wagner lie about that if he was totally innocent? This is, without question, a red flag. I am also troubled by the fact it took so long for Wagner to call for help or conduct a search. If he thought Natalie was missing, and it was dark, late and Natalie was deathly afraid of the water, you think he would have launched a search immediately. If they had a fight, and he thought she fled, did he tell that to police?
We must remember, after 30 years, if a crime was committed the stakes have dramatically reduced and the pressure on all parties is much less than what it was 30 years ago. We cannot forget that, and so while I am suspicious, I would like to see more before I make any decisions…
Do you think Robert Wagner or Christopher Walkens will speak out and address direct allegations? A few of you have submitted older videos of Wagner talking briefly about the night Natalie died, but he doesn’t say a lot from what I have seen. I’d like details.
I thought this was hilarious! Thanks, Ralph, for sharing.
Whose surprised?
You can read my original thoughts on Mariah here.
Now it appears they are in private negotiations…
