Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you have a Happy Holiday, if you are celebrating! If you are in another country, may you have a great day, too!
Kelle Jarka
Police Interrogate Kelle Jarka in Murder
(You can read the story here)
ABC’s 20/20 featured the Kelle Jarka story last Friday. Jarka comes home to find his wife, Isabelle, dead after running morning errands. He believes it is a break-in and denies any involvement. He is later convicted of murder.
In this interview we get to see Jarka talk and his behavior is fascinating.
Read moreJarka, an hour after his wife’s murder in a police interrogation tape, says the following about finding his wife upon his return, “I ran over there, ‘Babe, Babe’ uh, what’s w… , you know, and I couldn’t move her.”
What flags me instantly when I listen to this is how Jarka’s voice inflection changes when he says the words “Babe, Babe”. It’s a telling clue for me. For some reason when people are deceptive and put on an act, they often add in emotional inflection in the middle of normal conversation. It’s like what they would envision they would do, if they actually did this. When honest people recollect facts, they don’t do this at points where they “think” they should be emotional. I’ve seen this time and time again. It’s a pretty reliable clue to deceit. Probably one of the most reliable across the board.
Notice how he was about to say, “What wrong?” but stops himself? Then later he tells us he thought she was dead, so why on earth would he ask her what’s wrong? It makes no sense, likely because it never happened. I suspect he is just babbling up a story here, and got caught!
I love when the investigator says no innocent person is going to let me accuse them of brutally murdering their wife of 19 years. Bingo! And what is so fascinating is how Jarka responds to the questioning. Notice there is no anger? No negative emotions whatsoever? Instead, we get this subdued response–so classic of people who are deceptive. It’s what I call the “nice-guy-facade syndrome”. When people lie, their biggest goal is to be believed and they think if they are going to be trusted, they have to be liked, so they don’t ever get mad! Another very common clue to deceit seen in high stakes lies.
I also find it strange that Jarka says he couldn’t move her. What would be the reason for that? I wish that was questioned. It would have revealed his senseless babble.
I also noticed how Jarka’s voice is devoid of any stress whatsoever, and when he recalls what should be painful details, he is like a drone, devoid of normal emotional memory recall. Two more huge red flags.
Clearly, the jury got this case right on the money, circumstantial evidence and all.
Behavior Detection Officers….
…will likely be at an airport near you, if you fly this holiday.
Here is an interesting article on it.
What do you think about BDOs?
I think the concept is great, but I believe similar to what Dr. Ekman said –that training is essential and I, more than that, personally, don’t think basic training will cut it. We need to screen people for this job who have above average ability to understand human behavior (I’m not saying Truth Wizard), and help them improve their abilities before we ever put them on the job. Just hiring anyone to do this job, in my opinion, is useless. But I think the idea has great future rewards if we refine it appropriately.
Remembering Somer
From the Website
http://www.rememberingsomer.com/
I saw this link today and I was surprised they require you to sign-in to see much of the website. I thought that was odd for a memorial website. Do you?
I have no idea who created the website.
I have a toothache today, and I am off to the dentist again. I may have to have my wisdom tooth pulled this week, so I may be MIA, if that happens. I don’t know yet. It’s hard to concentrate when you are in pain!
A Very Different Diena Thompson
As many of you have suggested to me that Diena is different in this interview. She is dramatically subdued compared to her other interviews, yet I see still Diena making numerous subtle smiles (or hints of positive emotion), and I even see an expression of disgust when she talks to the reporter.
Read moreDiena shows disgust when mentioning Somer’s name, sadly. She says, “It’s been difficult, but I owe it to the other children, and Somer (expression of disgust, sigh) to get up every day and continue to just…go on.”
Why does saying Somer’s name make her feel disgust? This is painful to look at.
I can’t help but feel that someone has asked or suggested to Diena to “tone down” her responses, because her emotions we’ve seen from day one are still present. At one point, Diena even gives a sideways glance to her attorney, as if seeking his approval, though she never looks at him directly. We’ve seen this behavior with Ronald Cummings in some of his interviews.
I also find it interesting that the reporter says that Diena attorney is her “liaison” with police investigators. Did you catch that? If my child was missing, I wouldn’t want facts lost between a liaison. I would want direct contact. I would demand it. It makes you wonder if the police have questioned Diena, doesn’t it?
Diena seems to be breathing heavy in this interview, which I haven’t noted before. It caught my attention. Do you see it? It’s contradictory to her calm facade. It’s most notable after her attorney talks about how the police are likely honing in on a suspect.
Diena looks the most sad I have seen her when she says, “I can’t believe a parent could be involved in hurting their own child.” I can’t help but wonder if this rings a bell with her in some way. While Diena shrugs her shoulder here, this does not signal doubt to me. Many times when people say “I don’t know” or “I can’t believe” they often shrug their shoulders. This behavior is actually supportive that they can’t believe it or don’t know.
