Irish Man Corroborates Jane Tanner’s Story

News has broke today from Sky News and Fox that an Irish man, Martin Smith, has come forward to say that he saw a man carrying a child on the night Madeleine disappeared. He is sure it was not Robert Murat.

He tried to speak to the man when he and his family bumped into him. He asked the man if the little girl he was carrying was asleep, but the man did not reply which caught his attention as unusual.

It makes you wonder why Smith asked that. Did something make him curious? Perhaps it was a subconscious thought.

This gives some credibility to what Jane Tanner has said. While I have always believed her, I know there is a group of skeptics out there. Perhaps this will help people believe Jane.

Marty Tankleff Released After 17 Years

Marty Tankleff was 17 when he found his parents murdered in their home. He supposedly slept through the whole nightmare. Police immediately focused on Tankleff, and after hours of questioning by police, he made a confession.

Homicide investigator James McCready lied to Tankleff and told him his dad, who laid unconscious in a coma, was given adrenaline, came to, and pointed the finger at Marty.

Marty said his dad never lied, so he questioned if he blacked out. But shortly after that, he claimed his confession was a lie. Tankleff was convicted, and sentenced to 50 years for murdering his parents.

Read moreFor 17 years, Tankleff has stood firm on the fact that he did not kill his parents, and that he believed his dad’s business partner, Jerry Steuerman, who owned his dad thousands of dollars needed to be investigated.

Steurman was last known to be at the Tankleff home at 3:00 a.m. on the night of the murders. The two business partners, who were not on good terms, still played poker together.

After the murders, in a bizarre twist, Steuerman faked his own death and moved to Southern California to live under an assumed name. When tracked down and questioned about his behavior, Steurman said he was under a lot of stress, but had nothing to do with the murders.

It took the work of a pro bono legal team, and one hard working retired New York cop, Jay Salpeter, to finally get Tankleff free. He was released in late December 2007, and word has now come out today that the prosecutor of Suffolk County will not try the case again.

Steurman, or other people who have been pointed at as the potential killers, have yet to charged with anything to date.

This story really takes a lot of twists and turns, and I couldn’t possible recount the story anywhere near as effectively as 48 Hours did. It’s online and a very compelling story to watch. It’s a must see!

I think what Salpeter digs up clearly speaks for itself. The world needs a lot more people like Jay Salpeter, that’s for sure!

“Twenty five percent of people
who have been exonerated by DNA evidence
confessed to crimes they did not do.”
– 48 Hours

Next time someone confesses to the crime, remember it doesn’t necessarily mean they are guilty. Makes me think of Chuck Erickson, and Daniel Wade Moore.

MySpace

For all of you who read my blog, I thought you might want to know I have a MySpace page. Come stop by, say hi and share your thoughts!

http://www.myspace.com/eyesforlies

A Look Back at 2007

As we march onward into the new year, I took some time today to reflect on the year that has past. Perhaps you, too, might enjoy looking back at the biggest stories of this past year.

Happy New Year!

Howard K. Stern, Larry Birkhead and Anna Nicole Smith

Mary Winkler

The McCanns, and Madeleine

Bobby Cutts, Jr. and Jessie Davis

Matthew Gretz/Kira Simonian

Senator Larry Craig

Drew Peterson

Amanda Knox

* Each link points to the first post that I wrote. To read all the posts that I wrote on the topic, click on the appropriate labels at the bottom of each post.

Liars Don’t Blink More

I found a great article from the Times Online titled Liars Don’t Blink: They Keep Still and Concentrate Hard.

From all my watching of people, I couldn’t agree more. Intense stares often clue me in to look closer.