What is the true location on Suzanne's body of where she was lacerated and stabbed?
Another important question and one impossible to answer without benefit of the autopsy report. I did, however, speak to someone who lived a few doors down from the crime scene. She said the talk was not on the head wounds but of the way her throat was very badly slashed. From news reports, I get the impression all the other wounds were localized to the back of her head and neck. It was also widely reported that the tip of the blade broke off in her skull, and that there were no self-defense wounds. As to why police chief Sullivan said "She was stabbed in the back -- and only in the back -- with a knife," and later added that "reports of wounds to the neck and chest are incorrect", I can't speculate other than that it is common for police to withhold key information that "only the killer would know" to help verify they have the right guy.
There are two scenarios for the stabbing: inside a car and outside a car.
Try sitting in a drivers seat, twisting your body to the right, and simulating leaning over and stabbing someone through the skull. Not easy at all. Hard to get leverage, a good chance you'll miss your mark at least once, a reasonable chance if the first blow is not totally unexpected and incapacitating that the intended victim will be able to at least put up their hands in self defense, etc. In other words, if the attack was in a car, it had to have been by someone sitting in the rear. She never would have seen it coming. The front seat of the car could account for why the wounds were localized to her head.
If the attack came outdoors, you would expect someone in a wild rage to be stabbing wildly (i.e. hitting various parts of the body). If the first blow was not incapacitating, you might expect self defense wounds. If the first blow was incapacitating, you'd expect the victim to have fallen down. Surely she would have fallen down prior to 17 stab wounds! This means either she was stabbed while on the ground (there were no signs of breaks or bruises in any of the accounts I've read), or the killer continued the localized attack while she was on the ground.
Again, while all of the above scenarios may have happened, I think the stabbed from the back seat theory is most likely but I'm open to other suggestions.
- Jeff |
