Europol: First Online Murder to Happen in 2014

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I saw the strangest story on MSN the other day, “First online murder to occur by end of 2014, Europol warns“.

I was perplexed. I scratched my head as I wondered what in the world are they talking about. Go ahead, and read the article. It’s rather chilling!  It’s like the stuff of science-fiction becoming reality!

If this surprises you, I have to ask have you heard of Stuxnet? It was a computer worm that was used to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear plants. NOVA had a special on it, “The Rise of the Hackers“, that was absolutely spellbinding. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

Mario Casciaro Innocent?

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ABC featured the story of Brian Carrick, a grocery store clerk who went missing in the small town of Johnsburg, Illinois. The story takes a bunch of twists and turns, and eventually 12 years after Brian’s disappearance, the grocery store owner’s son, Mario Casciaro, gets charged with the murder and locked up for 26 years.

I will go through the list of characters to share with you who I believe and who I don’t.

I don’t believe what Shane Lamb told the truth to prosecutors the first time about Mario’s involvement. I believe Shane truly has remorse for telling that story.

With regards to Mario Casciaro, I don’t believe him when he says he was just selling his friends some of “his stash” and that it wasn’t a criminal enterprise. I do believe Mario was probably a small operation, but it seems clear from the testimony that he and Brian were selling pot, and that it was criminal. There is no evidence that Mario was involved in the murder, but the stakes in this case for Mario are no longer high.

What does it mean when the stakes are no longer high? With Mario, he is paying the ultimate price for whatever happened. If he was involved, let’s say, there is nothing to lose now by lying. Instead, he would have everything to gain. With that, there is no pressure on him if he does lie, which would cause the clues to leak. With that, I am extremely careful to say that I cannot judge a man behind bars for lying without testimony or video of him talking about it before he was locked up. This is critical because I have seen very guilty people speak from behind bars and sound innocent, because the pressure that caused clues to leak was gone!

However, there does not seem to be any evidence leading to Mario in this murder, and the evidence we do have, as Kathleen Zellner has pointed out, leads to Rob Render. Kathleen Zellner is an amazing attorney and I have full faith in her to get to the truth.

As for Rob Render, his interview was definitely odd and I did not believe him. He seemed to say anything in hopes of getting the police to leave him alone. He was extremely nervous, too, and I wonder if that came and went during the interview process, or was constant. That would reveal more information.

What I don’t understand from the show, however, is about the blood evidence. How could there be a lot of blood from a violent attack and no one see it that night when they closed up the store? Or early the next morning? Jerry Casciaro, Mario’s father, saw some reddish water and says he thought it was Hawaiian punch. Did the Casciaro’s call the police immediately? If not, why? I’m curious about this. We never heard.

I honestly need more information on this case to fully understand what happened, but I don’t believe Shane told the truth when Mario was convicted. And I’d like to see more of Mario, if there is any depositions or whatnot of him, prior to or during trial, to get to the truth in this matter. I am curious if the Casciaro’s knew that something went down, and wanted it to go away because it might be bad for business.

Murder Suspect Winks at Judge

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This is one weird and sad story. Jessica Smith is accusing of killing her 2-year old daughter and injuring her teenage daughter after which she fled leaving the children behind.

In the video above, Jessica smiles and winks at the judge.

This could be because she suffers from some form of mental illness, but we cannot rule out that she might want us to believe she is mentally ill as well.

Strange behavior to say the least.

 

My Thoughts on Ann Bender (48 Hours)

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When I watched Ann Bender on 48 Hours, several things troubled me, and I have admit, I do not trust her.  We have a lot of pieces that when added up paint a picture and I don’t believe that picture is what Ann is telling us.

The first thing I notice with Ann is a lack of oblique eyebrows indicating true sadness. This really stood out to me throughout the entire story.  The second thing I noticed was that she said her husband wanted to die, he was suicidal, but oddly she had no concern when he brought a gun to bed.

She said, “It was the last thing I expected him to be doing, even though I knew that he was suicidal.”

What?

If your loved one was suicidal and brought a gun to bed, would you be able to drift off to sleep?  I don’t think so.  Ann’s statement doesn’t make any sense.

Ann says, “I opened my eyes and I saw the outline of the trigger of the gun … and he had it pointed at his head … at himself…”

What troubles me about this statement according to the forensics is that if John was shot in the back of the head behind his right ear, how could she see the gun shadow if she was laying behind him in bed, and he was in bed with his head on his pillow?   Her eyes wouldn’t have likely been underneath the gun to see through it.  It’s possible, but highly unlikely. In the re-enactment, they had John sleeping with three pillows in a very unnatural position.

I am also troubled by the ear plugs, the pillow with the gunshot tear, and the spent cartridge being 15 feet away.

Who wears ear plugs when they are going to kill themselves?  You would actually want to be alert, I would think, to hear what your loved one is doing so they don’t stop you, if you are intent on getting the job done!

I am also troubled with what Ann says.

The first account Ann says:

“I got up on my knees and reared towards him and I tried to grab the gun.”

[“Were you able to get it?”]

“No. I was able to get my hands around his and the gun slipped and it went off,” she replied.

This troubles me.  The gun just went off?  I’m not buying it.

The next time she says:

“I lunged forward towards him with my hands. I fell towards the center of the bed … and the gun went off.”

This time she doesn’t even reach John’s hands, ironically.

And another time she says:

“That evening I had no indication of what was going to happen…after the shot, I don’t remember exactly what happened.”

And now another time she doesn’t remember?

Nonsense!

I don’t think Ann killed John for money, but I do think he was very determined and headstrong, and he was taking her down in his spiraling depression with him. And Ann knew it and didn’t know how to get away from him, or perhaps she didn’t want to give up their “dream” of the sanctuary. I think she knew she was going to die with him if something didn’t change and John wasn’t open to do anything.  I suspect Ann didn’t know how to get away because he’d seek her out, too, and around him she knew she wasn’t as strong as he was. She was the weaker of the two.  I suspect Ann couldn’t take it anymore and felt this was her only way out.  She wanted to survive and this is what she believed she had to do to get away.

But just because Ann was weaker than John in standing up against him, do not assume that I believe Ann is a weak or meek person.  I do not think that. She is actually quite strong. She isn’t letting her time in prison deter her. She is on a mission to get out, and she isn’t going to give up any time soon, if you ask me.

48 Hours: John and Ann Bender

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Did you catch the intriguing mystery on 48 Hours this week? It’s the story of genius John Bender and his wife, Ann, who moved to the rain forests of Costa Rica to live an eccentric life perched in a 50,000 square foot wall-and-window-free home on top a mountain.

It tragically didn’t end well. John allegedly committed suicide.

What do you think happened? Share your vote.

I will share my opinion later this week.

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