According to USA Today, which saw some crime scene photos... Cellular phones, pierced by bullets, rest a few feet from the bodies.
Somehow I think USA Today took a bit of "creative license" with what they saw when they examined (glanced at?) the crime scene photos. Compare that to what the NY Daily News reported today:
Their cell phones were lying a few feet from their bodies. Investigators are wondering whether Chalem and Lehmann had tried calling someone for help or whether they had been on the phones when they were shot.
The phones are still receiving calls, and police say callers are surprised to discover that Chalem or Lehmann aren't the ones answering. Investigators are now reviewing the men's phone records.
As for your "reconstruction":
The trip to Tennessee was planned for the next day. We know Chalem liked to travel in style. My *guess* is that Chalem would have wanted to be driven in his Bentley or Jag (the driver would then drive it back). I'm also *guessing* he was headed to Knoxville and AVIA. As AVIA is an aviation company I see no big deal they were traveling by a chartered jet. Company expense.
I tend to also think that Conkling and friend waiting in their cars at the end of the road was not for appearance sake nor because the police told them to do so. I think they were genuinely scared, and I believe what they told the police-- that they drove up at that late hour because they were concerned. Had they been in on the whole thing, they simply could have alerted the police with an anonymous 911 call.
As you pointed out, the only reason I can think of that the car trunk was open and a suitcase was inside was because Lehmann was about to leave. Usually when a guest leaves the host accompanies them outside, so perhaps the two were approached outside. A vehicle could have also driven up at that moment and it would have been natural for them to have just waited for the people to get out wondering what was going on. I doubt the killers were expected (i.e. had an appointment) as that would have been way too risky since you never know what written records might exist of who the two may have told.
At that point the killer(s) could have easily, at gunpoint, forced the two men inside. No sense waking up the neighborhood shooting outside. The dining hall was well inside the house to lessen the noise, but right down the hall so not a far walk. At that point the killer(s) could have just said to "sit down" and then shot Chalem. Lehmann seeing this gets up and starts to run but is hit in the leg and then finished off. The leg shot makes me think there may have been one gunman as otherwise perhaps the two would have been shot at the same time and there would have been no chance to get up and run.
I doubt Chalem and Lehmann were on their cell phones when they were shot. If they were it would either have to have been for business or to dial 911. As there were two of them, as 911 takes a second to dial, and as such calls are logged, I doubt this happened. If they were on business calls, certainly the two would have been startled enough to either jump up, yell at the intruder, or, if not, the interruption and/or gunshots would definitely have prompted the other party to call the police. This didn't happen as far as published reports indicate. It just may have been that the phones fell out of the pockets when they fell, or else they each were holding their phones at the time threatening to call the police-- thinking they were calling the intruder's bluff.
Lastly, as for Jeff Scarola being taken out of school on Friday, I see no evidence of that. Published reports simply say Kimberly Scarola left on Friday for Florida. Perhaps she went after the school day had ended.
- Jeff |
