48 Hours: Jenny Eisenman

Last night, 48 Hours profiled the case of Jenny Eisenman. Jenny was a wife, a mother, a second grade teacher, and a woman who admitted to shooting her husband dead. Jenny, however, claims she acted in self-defense and that her husband abused her.

Is Jenny being honest when she claims she acted in self-defense, or is she being deceptive?

A jury decided that Jenny Eisenman was not acting in self-defense, and sentenced her to 23 years in prison. Yet 48 Hours brought back some of the jurors and discussed case facts that were withheld from them during trial.

Read more In trial, photos of bruises on Jenny’s legs taken after the murder were withheld from jury as was testimony from a friend of Drew who said Drew admitted to him that he got “physical” (at one point) with Jenny.

Juror Ann Robey says if she had known then what she knows now, it could have changed everything because she could not have voted to convict. “What I now know? I don’t think so. It probably would’ve been hung,” she says.

It could have been a hung jury. “I would have really held my ground,” Robey says.

Clearly, this is a case where people fall on both sides of the pendulum. Some believe Jenny, others don’t.

When I watched the 48 Hours interview, I saw a mountain of clues that led me to doubt Jenny’s story, over and over again. Do I think she and Drew fought at times? Yes. Do I think things got physical between them at times? I do, but I don’t believe Drew was the monster Jenny wants us to believe he was. And I don’t believe the night that Drew was murdered that he came at her like she tells us he did.

Jenny told police that on the night of murder in the interrogation video “He came at me, then he just kinda he fell back, then he kinda got up like to come at me again.” She says this as she talks of shooting him.

This sentence was a huge red flag for me.

First, when someone is threatening me and violating me, they don’t “kinda” do anything. They are coming at me, attacking me, scaring me…not kinda getting up to come at me again! They either did or they didn’t. They didn’t kinda do it.

People who are deceptive, I have noticed, try to make strong sentences, but inadvertently, most likely subconsciously, use the word “kinda” ( or kind of) in the mix. They want to make a strong statement but kinda weaken it a bit which makes no logical sense.

Another person who used the word kinda is Matthew Gretz. He is facing trial for murdering his spouse. He was trying to play the part of a distressed husband, kinda. You are either distressed or you aren’t. You aren’t kinda distressed.

Think back to something in your life where you felt threatened or violated. Describe the incident. Say it aloud. Did the perpetrator “kinda” scare you, or did he scare you, come at you, threaten you? Or did he kinda threaten you, kinda scare you, kinda come at you? It’s illogical when you look at it for what it is.

Furthermore, Jenny recounted her life much like an actor would who was creating a scene. She would play the parts as she discussed them. She said something to the affect that she and Drew were pretending to live the perfect life, and when she said that, she put on a “pretend” posture as if she were pretending to be happy for that second when she recalled it. Honest people when recalling a story don’t re-enact the facts as they tell them (i.e I was happy at that time so look at me smile now). They usually tell the scenario again with deep emotions, showing their pain, and feelings in the aftermath.

Instead, Jenny seems to have no pain in the aftermath, whatsoever. Rather, she genuinely laughs at points during her interview which is hair raising. Most people after a serious traumatic event, such as murder in self-defense, typically don’t feel like laughing for a while afterwards. This is another red flag.

Look at Jenny on the interrogation video, she is matter-of-fact. She is without emotions as if she is telling someone about a spat between two children, not the self-defense murder of her husband. This was a traumatic event, but she shows not signs of trauma. If your life is threatened, you are traumatized. Period. Why isn’t she?

When the interrogator asks Jenny if Drew was panicked, Jenny says, “I think he was tryin to stay calm.” This is not how someone who experienced this situation would respond. They would give the facts by stating yes or no. The would not speculate what Drew was attempting to do with his emotions. After all, if she wants us to believe her life was on the line, how did she have time to speculate about Drew’s emotions? It’s nonsense and rubbish.

The investigator asks if she had her “eyes open when she was firin?” Jenny says “The first time?… When I shot the wall, I did.” Here she pauses after the asking the question “The first time?”, and thinks about it. Then she answers. This appears to be thinking-on-her-feet speech. She doesn’t seem to be recollecting a memory, or be confused, or have no memory from the trauma.

Jenny’s tone of voice is another red flag for me. I don’t know why, but it is.

Jenny tried to dispose of her husband’s body, bought all the things she needed to conceal the crime, and shows absolutely no real genuine emotions of sorrow or fear when she talks to police. She is quite content to read People magazine, have a soda and a snack. Is this a woman who feared for her life? A woman who is traumatized by a cruel husband?

Her body language shows no signs of stress outside of the fact she is chewing her finger nails which could also be a sign of nerves, fear or even boredom.

Jenny could have experienced shock from a trauma like this, but in the police interrogation I would expect to see signs of that such as confusion or denial, but I don’t. I see none of it.

Justice, in this case, if you want my opinion was served as deserved.

Hot Search Today: Rick Mims

I am getting blasted by visitors searching for “Rick Mims” today. I don’t see any news relating to Rick, so I have to wonder what show aired last night, or what interview was shown that have people searching for him.

Do you know? If so, spill the beans!

New Witness in Kercher Case

A new Albanian witness has come forward nearly three months from the horrific murder of Meredith Kercher to say that he saw the three suspects (Knox, Sollecito, and Guede) together at the cottage the night before the murder.

The new witness, an Albanian who lives in Perugia, told police that about 8 o’clock on the night before Ms Kercher was killed he parked his car near the cottage, but in doing so scraped the rubbish bins at the gates. He told investigators: “It was dark and pouring with rain, but I stopped the car, put the hazard lights on and got out to see if I had damaged the car. Suddenly two young people came out. It was them, Raffaele and Amanda. They seemed as if they were looking for a quarrel, they were shouting.

“We began arguing and at a certain point Amanda pulled out a knife and started waving it around in an aggressive way. She was shouting and pointing the knife at me.

“I’m quite certain it was her, and the guy with her was Raffaele Sollecito.”

The witness said that he was scared. “I was ready to run back to my car when out of nowhere in the dark another guy turned up, a black man. It was the Ivory Coast guy, Rudy.” He said that he did not know any of the three at the time, “but I recognised them afterwards when I saw their photographs in all the newspapers.” Source: Times Online

It doesn’t look good for the three suspects, nor does it bode well for Knox’s version of events, which from what news reports have said, has changed several times.

Read moreI originally wrote about Amanda Knox back on November 9th, eight days after the murder. When I did, someone rightly pointed out that Knox’s statements could have been translated from English to Italian to English again, and with that, I couldn’t depend on the actual verbiage to guide me in spotting deception. They were correct.

But even if there was a translation, one event that Knox described that night, of being in the kitchen and hearing Kercher scream from behind closed doors, and covering her ears because of it (if that is the end message before and after translation), makes absolutely no sense. It defies logic and honesty.

When we are startled by a loud noise, a scream, our natural instinct when we are in our own home (or in a place where we feel safe) is to go running toward the noise, to ask if everyone is okay, to see what happened.

We only cover our ears when we know what is going on, and we can’t stop it, nor can we bear to hear it anymore. When we are startled, no one goes, “Oh my” and covers their ears in ignorance…not knowing the cause or reasoning. It’s unheard of…

It makes you wonder if, at one point, Knox was in the kitchen, and Kercher was crying out, and Knox heard it, knew Kercher was dying, and just covered her ears so she didn’t have to endure it. Reports say they believe Kercher died slowly by bleeding to death. Then again, the whole story could be completely made up. I’m just speculating because sometimes in lies there are pieces of the truth.

The only thing we can say with some certainty from this statement by Knox about covering her ears in ignorance, if that is the gist of what she is saying, is that Knox is not telling the truth. It doesn’t tell us anything more than that.

This new Albanian witness only seems to support that Knox hasn’t been honest and forthright, again.

True Story : Answer

Is your friend telling you the truth or a lie? Not sure what I am speaking about? Read this first!

This is a true story that was told to a member of my family a little over a year ago. When the story was relayed to me, it just didn’t sit right. Mind you, I didn’t hear the story being told by the story originator (we don’t even know who that is), so with that, I didn’t get to see facial expressions, or body language clues that could assist me in making the determination if this was the truth or a lie. I discovered the facts, here, simply by applying logic.

Read more As I sat contemplating how I’d have to change my lifestyle if, in fact, two thieves were running around my neighborhood, I kept hearing my family member relay the story to me. In particular, I kept hearing them say, “It takes ten days to get published in the newspaper.” As I looked out the kitchen window, those words kept playing through my mind like a bad song you can’t purge from your memory.

After I stopped thinking about all the ways this would affect me and my life, the broken record finally got through to me, and I realized this was pure bull dust! We live in the information age. Ten days? No way! Maybe back in the stone age, but as long as I have been alive, the morning headlines have always been up to date. I knew this was pure, and dirty hogwash.

Another thing that immediately bothered me was the word “robberies”. People weren’t being held up with a gun. These were burglaries. If the cops knew about this, and were perhaps at the association meeting, this would have been stated accurately. And frankly, you don’t call an association meeting and tell people this horrifying news without police support and guidance to (a) help catch the bastards (b) give safety advice to the neighbors/neighborhood. While the words could get mixed up, it was just another flag that I filed in my list of concerns.

Furthermore, I started to question the fact that these guys were black. How do we know these guys are black? Did someone’s security camera get them taped? Did someone see them? If so, then where are the artist renditions or video footage or black and white photos?? Why aren’t there WANTED signs posted around? Furthermore, why weren’t they handed out at this supposed association meeting?

Another signal to me was why would one neighbor know about this from the association meeting and not the other? The likelihood is that both neighbors live in the same association. If this information was going to be told at an association meeting, wouldn’t there have been a flier put out, perhaps? Maybe, maybe not, but if the police were involved, and wanted to catch this guy, you can pretty much be sure they would want to let everyone know, so people could help spot these guys, and solve the crime spree. So, likely there would have been a flier, and a flier with faces of these guys on it. It’s not a certainty, but certainly likely. Another potential red flag.

Also, the details were spooky. Who was dreaming this up? A hat and gloves? They’d only take jewelry, drugs and cash. What, these guys didn’t care about TVs, DVDs, or computers? That’s unusual. People who steal for drugs want money!! Anything valuable is worth money.

And they didn’t break anything, but took these specific valuables. Twenty four homes had open windows and doors, in a matter of a couple of weeks, that were left unlocked when no one was home. What are the odds??

This story was smelling really rotten to me so I got online and browsed the local papers. Nothing. Zip. Nadda.

Then I asked my husband to call the local police and ask about it. I wasn’t buying it, and furthermore, I wanted this demon of monsters roaming the neighborhood stopped. We don’t have many black people in this town, and I can’t imagine how a rumor of this proportion would affect them, unfairly!

On our way home from my relatives house, we saw a black family fishing and my heart sunk. How many people looked at them with fear? Unfairly. Unjustly. How many people treated them rudely out of pure ignorance?? It was vile and wrong.

My husband made the call. The police said they weren’t aware of any break-ins in the past couple of weeks. When my husband said he had heard there were 24, they said they would absolutely know about them, and that there were none reported, rest assured.

My relative called her friend and told her the news. She was relieved. I personally don’t believe she was invested in any security company, or had any ulterior motives. I think she was truly afraid. Someone started a false rumor for one reason or another and at least I stopped it. Being a new widow is enough for any person to deal with–forget adding on the fear of “robbers” in the neighborhood. No, thanks!

Be vigilant. Look over the facts–think about them. Ask yourself are the facts logical? Question them and then, if possible, verify what you can. While your friend may not be knowingly telling a lie, someone is and has passed it on to her, and you have the power to stop it — dead in its tracks.

True Story?

Originally published on my blog in 2006.

Imagine you live rural, and you get a phone call.

(((Ring, ring)))

It’s your neighbor friend. She says hello and then you say hello. Then she starts talking…

“How are you? I’m just calling because I found out something you might want to know about. I guess there have been 24 robberies in the neighborhood very recently, so recently it hasn’t made the news yet. You know, it takes 10 days or so for the papers to get the story published.”

She goes on, “I’m really afraid. I went out and bought some security equipment.” She explains the equipment to you, and tells you how vulnerable she feels living alone.

Read more“They say it is two black men, and they break in during the day when no one is home. They don’t break windows or anything — they take entry via open doors and windows. They take cash and jewelry and prescription drugs. They also wear gloves and a hat.”

You can tell she is concerned. You live in an area where there are lots of vacant vacation homes. She continues, “I found out about it from my neighbor who lives right next door. She went to an association meeting where they discussed it. Be safe, okay?”

Is your friend telling you the truth, or a lie?

Why do you say that?